The Jainpedia project is beginning to gather pace. The British Library will soon have cross sectional representation of Jain manuscripts along side the most precious and famous items are displayed. This collection also included Magna Carta. Read on:
Treasures of the British Library (The Sir John Ritblat Gallery)/JAINpedia Display:
Introduction:
The John Ritblat Gallery has the subtitle ‘Treasures of the British Library’ and provides a wealth of history with no admittance charge to its visitors. The gallery contains a permanent display of some of the British Library’s greatest objects and artefacts, arranged by theme. It includes documents which made and recorded history, sacred text from the world’s religions, masterpieces of illumination, landmarks of printing, great works of literature and music, and major advances in science and mapmaking. Items in this gallery may be changed at intervals for preservation reasons and sometimes items are lent to other institutions for exhibitions. To preserve the items on display, temperature and light levels are low to maintain a suitable environmental condition. The British Library contains some of the most important Jain manuscripts and artefacts outside of the Indian Sub-Continent.
The British Library have decided to display a small representational cross-section of their manuscript collection in the Treasures Gallery as part of the JAINpedia project and to offer their ongoing interest and support in the digitization of Jain material/manuscripts. Rajiv Anand (Museum Consultant) will work alongside learning and curatorial staff from the Library also in conjunction with Professor Nalini Balbir the Web Content Director/Expert for JAINpedia.
Location of Jainpedia Display:
The JP display will be prominently exhibited in Treasures Gallery within the Sacred Texts section. There is an existing small case for Jain objects on display currently alongside a case of Hindu objects. The JAINpedia case is a state of the art cabinet which is of a much bigger size is centrally located within the gallery and is in a prime location with good vistas across the space and illuminated manuscripts display. JAINpedia was originally set for display in The Folio Gallery but Library staff decided against this to highlight the Jain collections as of great value suitable for display in Treasures. The gallery is centrally located within the Library grounds and gets a respectable number of visitors to view the displays daily.
Timescales for Exhibit:
JAINpedia will be on display in Treasures between September 2010 till March 2011. This gives exposure to the manuscripts for a seven month period in comparison to two month previously scheduled for Folio Gallery. In the long term this is a better compromise for the project and a very satisfactory outcome. The JAINpedia display case is in the same vicinity as the world famous Magna Carta exhibit which will provide a further draw.
Events and Activities:
It is anticipated that to compliment the JAINpedia display a small but comprehensive selection of related programmes in conjunction with Learning and APAC will take place in the Library. Main events happen around the major exhibitions usually but the staff involved with the display at BL are keen to hold some sort of workshops and schools provision alongside the public programming section, Prof Nalini Balbir could be approached to give a public talk in the Lecture Theatre/Seminar Rooms looking at issues surrounding Manuscriptology and Sanskrit. Learning events may happen in late December 10 during the Christmas holidays this could possibly be a Rangoli making event and associated workshops for Jain community and wider public. (A wider selection of events is mentioned in the original display brief)
Manuscript selection and display:
A selection of manuscripts was chosen for the original display brief by the display team including Prof Nalini Balbirs contextual paper suggesting categories and sections. This may be resurrected for selection again for Treasures display and other artefacts may be brought out for rotation. It is not decided as to how many objects will be on display as the case is rather sufficient and will be able to house a relative cross section of manuscripts along with branding, narrative text panels and labels. The display will be promoted through the Library e-newsletter and a link to JP via their website is likely to be created.
Please contact Mr Rajiv Anand (Museum Consultant) at rajiv.anand@jainpedia.org