Schoolchildren visit the State Museum in Bhubaneswar on Friday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 18: The International Museum Day was observed with much fanfare in the capital today. While the city-based State Museum celebrated the occasion, a passionate teenage coin collector here has announced to come up with a unique museum dedicated to special coins all by himself.

The State Museum, which houses more then 56,000 rare antiquities spread over 11 galleries, is also planning to have four international galleries. The four galleries will be thematic and display information and objects related to patta painting, freedom fighters, the history of Odisha through ages and human evolution.

Culture minister Prafulla Samal said the state government had sanctioned Rs 2 crore for this purpose. “A bidding process for construction of the gallery will be initiated very soon. International companies with proper expertise can also take part in the bidding,” he said.

The museum authorities have also procured three generators for uninterrupted power supply at a cost of Rs 45 lakh.

“Once the generators are installed, visitors will no longer have to bother about power-cuts,” said museum superintendent Manjushree Samantray.

On the occasion of the International Museum Day, the state museum today organised a seminar — Significance of epigraphy in reconstructing our history — where various speakers raised their concerns regarding preservation of monuments.

“Monuments of historical and archaeological significance are being damaged and inscriptions defaced because of sinking of land and quarrying. Private collections of copper plates with valuable inscriptions are being smelted for the value of the metals as people are unaware of their antique values,” said director of epigraphy T.S. Ravishankar.

A well-known coin collector, Debi Prasad Mangaraj, has also announced to set up the state’s first-ever private coin museum, for which construction has already begun at Satya Nagar.

“Even after running from pillar to post with repeated requests, the state government did not respond to my plea of building a museum for coins. So, I have decided to come up with the museum by myself,” said Mangaraj.

The 17-year-old numismatic has more than 40,000 antique coins from 130 different countries and hopes to enter the Guinness World Records someday soon for his collection.

“My museum will benefit school students, tourists, as well as research scholars who have fascination in numismatics. The museum will educate schoolchildren on rare coins of 12th and 13th Century BC and the associated history,” said the student of Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1.

His collection includes coins of Australia, the UK, the USA, France and Japan among other countries. Major attractions of his collection include coins of the East India Company.