The upcoming Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum in New Delhi will be a central focus of a new digital heritage initiative launched through a partnership between the Ministry of Culture and Google Arts & Culture.
The two organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on November 5 to document, preserve and share India's cultural heritage through digital platforms. The agreement was signed at a virtual ceremony attended by Ministry of Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal and Google Arts & Culture Vice President and Founder Amit Sood.
The collaboration will cover monuments and archaeological sites protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), collections held by national museums, manuscripts documented under the Gyan Bharatam initiative, and traditional crafts, performing arts and living cultural traditions supported by institutions under the ministry.
A key component will be the digital documentation of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, which is being developed in the North and South Blocks of New Delhi. The exercise will create a digital record of the historic buildings and the artefacts that will be housed there. It will also give the public an opportunity to explore the museum's collections and history through digital platforms as the project develops.
Indian heritage to be accessible in multiple languages
The ministry said the partnership aims to make cultural collections accessible in Indian languages and across digital devices, extending their reach beyond physical museum spaces.
Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said: “India’s cultural heritage is a living inheritance. It belongs to every citizen and speaks to the whole world.”
He added that the partnership would use technology to document, preserve and share India's manuscripts, monuments, national museum collections and the upcoming museum with audiences in India and abroad.
The initiative is part of the ministry's wider effort to expand digital access to cultural resources and strengthen public engagement with India's heritage. It also seeks to bring together institutions across the ministry and technology partners to support preservation and the creative economy.
Gyan Bharatam manuscripts included in the project
The agreement also brings the manuscript heritage being documented under Gyan Bharatam into the partnership.
Launched as a national initiative to preserve India's manuscript heritage, Gyan Bharatam focuses on surveying, documenting, conserving and digitising manuscripts held by institutions and private collections across the country.
The inclusion of these manuscripts in the digital partnership is expected to widen access to historical texts and archival material. The ministry has not yet specified the number of manuscripts to be digitised under the new agreement or a timeline for completing the exercise.
The partnership also covers traditional crafts, performing arts and living cultural traditions maintained by institutions under the Ministry of Culture. This extends the initiative beyond monuments and museum objects to include cultural practices and artistic traditions.
Google's existing partnerships with Indian institutions
Google Arts & Culture has previously worked with several Indian cultural institutions, including the ASI, the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art, to bring their collections to wider audiences.
Amit Sood said the new agreement builds on Google Arts & Culture's 15-year engagement with India's cultural heritage.
He said the partnership would support the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum and the preservation of historical manuscripts, making collections freely discoverable for education and public engagement.
The agreement marks a further expansion of the ministry's use of digital platforms for cultural preservation. However, the ministry has not announced a detailed implementation schedule, the number of collections to be digitised or the specific digital tools that will be deployed under the MoU.