Client: Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation, Udaipur, India
2008 – 2014
The City Palace Complex Udaipur is the oldest and most prestigious Rajput palace complex in India. It is unique for its history and architecture, but also for being the only such complex to remain continually in use. The Complex houses the City Palace Museum in its oldest portions, the Mardana and Zenana palaces. The vast Museum collection ranges from photographic and painted materials to the architectural heritage encompassed within these structures.
Our role
Eka was the museum consultant to the City Palace Museum, advising on every aspect of its re-presentation – i.e. display, archiving, storage, planning, publication, outreach, gallery improvements and recruitment.
We collated and assessed the collection from various parts of the complex, identifying areas of focus, and simultaneously evaluating the best strategies for display and cataloguing.
Cataloguing commenced with the 27,000 plus photographic objects, leading to the City Palace Museum’s first renovated international-standard gallery and its first ever exhibition dedicated to historic early photographs.
We worked in collaboration with our partners to advise on conservation, adaptive reuse of the complex (especially with regard to museum spaces and storage), risk assessment, and outreach. We also assisted the City Palace Museum in obtaining prestigious funding such as The Getty Foundation and Pacific Asia Travel Association.
As part of the larger project, we conceptualised, curated and implemented the first exclusive exhibition of photographic materials from the revitalised Pictorial Archives of the Maharanas of Mewar, and the Silver Gallery, each with an accompanying publication.
PHOTO GALLERY