India & Portugal to join hands in setting up National Maritime Museum 04/07/2019 – Posted in: ART & CULTURE

National Maritime Heritage Museum

 

India and Portugal will cooperate in the setting up of a national maritime heritage museum at Lothal in Gujarat.

 

Implementing agencies

  • The Indian Navy is keen to be a stakeholder in the project and the Portuguese Navy has agreed to assist with their experience of administering the maritime museum in Lisbon.
  • The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme, with the involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State government and other stakeholders.

 

Purpose

  • It will showcase and preserve India’s rich and diverse maritime heritage.
  • It also seeks to highlight ancient shipbuilding and navigational technologies developed by India.

 

Why Lothal is selected for setting up the museum?

As indicated the Archaeological Survey of India, Lothal had the world’s earliest known dock, which connected the city to an ancient course of the Sabarmati river on the trade route between Harappan cities in Sindh and the peninsula of Saurashtra when the surrounding Kutch desert of today was a part of the Arabian Sea.

Lothal was a crucial and flourishing trade center in ancient times, with its trade of beads, gems and valuable ornaments reaching the far corners of West Asia and Africa.

 

Lothal

  • Harappan era excavation site Lothal is near to Ahmedabad. It was one of the southernmost cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
  • The site was discovered in 1954 by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

 

Source: The Hindu

 

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