India's first sunken museum will transport you back to the Mughal era

Over 500 years ago, in 1519, young Humayun was sent from his home in Kabul to serve as the governor of Badakhshan, a northern province of Afghanistan. During his lifetime, he travelled 34,000km as a warrior, crisscrossing present-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran―exploring more of the world than any other Mughal emperor. According to Ratish Nanda, noted conservation architect and project director of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) India, Humayun’s travels were three times more than those of Marco Polo, the famous Venetian explorer and merchant. These fascinating tales are among the many details that adorn the walls of India’s first sunken museum at Humayun’s mausoleum, which was inaugurated on 29 July. The museum houses over 500 previously unseen artefacts from the collections of the National Museum, Archaeological Survey of India and AKTC. Among them is the original 18-foot golden finial that crowned the dome of Humayun’s tomb, which came crashing down during a severe thunderstorm in 2014. After years of meticulous restoration by traditional coppersmiths, a replica now adorns the dome, while the original is displayed in the museum. “While looking for its restoration, we found that it was made of gold and had stood the test of time for several centuries,” says Nanda.