Museum, collecting and memory: a comparative study of government art museum and private art museum in India.

Museums are normally described as not only cultural and heritage institutions but also the institutions of arts. It is the cultural and heritage institutions of a country that have long been associated with the tangible aspects of their collected art works. Over a period of time cultural and heritage institutions have learned to interrelate with communities and societies and now are actively working with both tangible and intangible culture and heritage. At a crucial time of urbanization, communities are losing their intangible cultural heritage very fast. The new generation is losing the connection between their cultural heritage and beliefs which had been followed over a long period by their ancestors. Only through the Museums that relationship can be built as it can preserve our cultural and historical heritage. It can bridge the gap with the communities through cultural interpretation of the artefacts and with the support of the communities. Conservation and documentation of the tangible and intangible culture and heritage need to add to the function of the museums. Indian museums have a wide range of traditional, religious and cultural art and crafts in their collections; some of these collections are the living heritage of certain communities. These communities have used these artefacts in the past to pass on knowledge and skills generation by generation in families by the elders.