Rubin Museum Executive Director Jorrit Britschgi interviews Pragya Ratna Shakya, president of the Keshchandra Mahavihar Conservation Society, about the first year of the Itumbaha Museum.
This interview was conducted in early July 2024. The answers have been translated from Newari.
Pragya Ratna Shakya: The first year has been quite satisfactory, we saw nearly 3,500 visitors, which includes 25% foreign nationals and 75% local visitors. As word spreads, we expect more visitors in the coming years. The visitors are happy with the display of artifacts at the museum, and the community has plans to slightly expand the gallery spaces and number of artifacts on display. We are proud to have welcomed many students, scholars, intellectuals, and research fellows, as well as notable religious and political leaders in the first year of operating the museum.
We’ve had quite a number of inquiries from representatives of other monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley who visited the Itumbaha museum and expressed interest in opening small museums on their own premises. They often inquired about the fundraising, management, and security necessary for opening and operating a museum. The success of Itumbaha museum will be an encouraging model for other Newar Buddhist monasteries in the Kathmandu Valley.
The month-long Gunla festival is soon happening and will be celebrated with the usual deep cultural and religious devotion. It includes rituals like a daily hike to Swayambhu, the chanting of hymns and prayers, taking vows, and visits to different monasteries with traditional music. The Itumbaha community will actively participate in all the cultural and religious events.
As part of the festival, religious objects such as stupas, statues, sacred texts, and scroll paintings, as well as nonreligious artifacts that have been gifted to the monastery over the course of time, are presented in the courtyard for a duration of 15 days, from the seventh to the twenty-first day of the festival. This tradition will continue as it has for many generations, and it is practiced in other Buddhist monasteries as well.
The display of objects in the courtyard has two specific purposes: to affirm trust in the preservation committee for keeping objects safe, and to encourage further donations to the monastery. The display itself is an ancient version of a “museum” in a traditional way. We expect many visitors during this time of year to witness old religious artifacts and sacred images.
Establishing a museum has been a dream project for the Itumbaha community for a long time. But there are still some people outside our community who are quite unhappy with the museum having opened. I’d like to point out that none of the objects on display are used in daily rituals or are still being venerated. They all came from various storages, and making them part of the display allows people to see them and makes them accessible for research.
The dissatisfaction that was initially expressed has now subsided. Some of the initial critics and protesters have paid a visit to the museum and have realized that they have been misguided and misinformed. Others still oppose the museum but have unfortunately not been in touch with our community.
In terms of consecrated objects, once they are damaged or broken, they lose their function as an object of veneration; damaged objects are no longer worshiped. Immediate replacement or repairing (jirnoddhara) is carried out to make it worthy for religious purposes. However, there are also non-consecrated artifacts or utensils that are used for religious rituals, and they therefore also hold religious meaning.
Operating a museum is the best option for the conservation of objects and preservation of our heritage. But there are some challenges with the financial sustainability of the museum. Sometimes we see five visitors a day, sometimes one hundred; it is very hard to predict and plan. We depend on ticket sales and hope more people will visit the museum in the future to generate income. What we do see is that some visitors support our work with donations on top of the admission fee, which is very helpful to also support the four staff who work in the museum. Additionally, the conservation society sets aside a percentage of its fund to support the museum. Another concern is security, and we have asked for a police post in Itumbaha to protect the site.
In the next five years, the Itumbaha community has plans to expand the galleries a bit and make the museum even more attractive for visitors. We hope the Itumbaha museum continues to welcome people to learn about our cultural and religious heritage, the value of the preserved objects, and preservation of the Itumbaha itself.
Pragya Ratna Shakya is the president of the Keshchandra Mahavihar Conservation Society, which manages the administrative, financial, and legal matters of the Itumbaha monastery, as well as the conservation and preservation of the monastery’s buildings and collection.
Jorrit Britschgi has served as the Rubin Museum’s Executive Director since 2017. Before joining the Rubin, he served as Head of Exhibitions and Publications at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, Switzerland, where he was manager of the exhibitions program and curated numerous exhibitions. Mr. Britschgi also served as publisher of Artibus Asiae, one of the leading scholarly journals in Asian art and archaeology, for over a decade.
Jorrit Britschgi graduated from Zurich University with an MA in art history and Sinology (2005) and a PhD, with highest honors, in East Asian Art History (2009). Besides his research activities, he’s taken part in archaeological excavations in Eastern China and Bhutan, and curated numerous exhibitions on paintings from the Indian Himalayan region. Mr. Britschgi has received grants from federal and private foundations to pursue his studies and research. He is a 2017 alumni of the Getty Leadership Institute, and shares his expertise in an advisory capacity with other museums and individuals.
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