A new Bengaluru digital museum at Gandhi Bhavan will offer visitors an interactive account of Mahatma Gandhi’s life, from his childhood and education to his final journey, with the facility scheduled to be inaugurated by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday.
The museum presents rare photographs and historical records in an accessible format. QR codes placed beside the exhibits will allow visitors to scan the images and access additional information about them. Audio support will be available in Kannada and English, enabling visitors to select their preferred language.
Officials of the Karnataka Gandhi Memorial Fund announced the details at a press conference on Thursday. Fund president Woode P. Krishna and treasurer H.B. Dinesh said the facility was being positioned as the first digital museum in Karnataka focused on Gandhi’s life. The stated aim is to introduce Gandhi’s life and work to younger audiences through a technology-enabled public exhibition.
The exhibits cover Gandhi’s childhood, education, years in South Africa, return to India, the principles of satyagraha and non-violence, the freedom movement, his travels across the country and records related to his final journey. The museum also includes a replica of Sabarmati Ashram intended to reflect aspects of Gandhi’s simple way of life.
Other displays include Gandhi’s correspondence with various individuals, a Kannada message written by him and a rare photograph of his elder brothers. The museum has also created a separate room documenting Gandhi’s visits to Karnataka between 1915 and 1937, placing his engagement with the state within the wider exhibition.
The facility is designed to function as a changing cultural space rather than a static archive. One gallery will be updated every six months, with the first rotating exhibition focusing on Gandhi as a journalist. The museum has also made arrangements for students from one school to visit each day, according to the Karnataka Gandhi Memorial Fund.
The museum was redesigned by A. Annamalai, director of the National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi. Its use of QR-linked information, bilingual audio and rotating exhibits gives Gandhi Bhavan a new public-facing role, combining archival material with digital interpretation. The immediate focus, according to the organisers, is to make the material easier for students and other visitors to understand.
The inauguration by D.K. Shivakumar is scheduled to take place on Friday at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengaluru. Further visitor arrangements and the operating schedule are expected to be communicated by the organisers.
