National Art Gallery at the Government Museum complex in Egmore opened to public on Tuesday

M.P. Saminathan, Minister of Information and Publicity and Tamil Development, opened the National Art Gallery at the Government Museum complex in Egmore to the public on Tuesday after more than ten years of rehabilitation. Speaking on the event, the Minister mentioned that in addition to paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, Mysore and Tanjore paintings, and even Mughal paintings, the gallery is a superb example of Indo-Saracenic architecture. The gallery, he claimed, was also known as Victoria Hall.  

The Minister also inaugurated the remodelled Museum Theatre and the café, which will be run by the TTDC, in addition to the National Art Gallery, which has been rebuilt by the Public Works Department. He estimated that the works had cost about ₹19 crore.

Commissioner of Museums M. Aravind, Secretary Tourism, Tamil Development K. Manivasan, and Egmore MLA I. Parandaman also addressed.

At the Museum Theatre, ₹1.50 crore was spent on renovating the hardwood flooring, painting the artwork, stopping seepage in the stage area, and replacing the dated wooden seats.

The National Art Gallery's restoration project involved installing a continuous tone lintel, replacing the flooring, removing the damaged roof, rebuilding lime brick concrete, and building stormwater drains. The heritage structure had unevenly sunk.