TN Announces ₹49-Crore Heritage Mission and Digital Upgrades for Egmore Museum

The Tamil Nadu government announced a series of heritage conservation and digitization initiatives in the assembly on Wednesday, including a ₹20-crore digital museum project covering the Chennai government museum in Egmore and 23 district museums across the state.

The announcements were part of a comprehensive policy blueprint presented in the assembly by School Education and Tamil Development Minister A Rajmohan. As the landmark government museum in Egmore marks its 175th anniversary this year, the state government has officially declared the year 2026–27 as 'Visit Museum Year'.

Under the newly launched Tamil Heritage Conservation Mission, the government will undertake the conservation and restoration of 76 protected monuments and archaeological sites in its first phase. The state has earmarked an outlay of ₹49 crore for this initial phase of restoration work. Protected sites selected under the initiative include heritage buildings located on the Institute of Advanced Study in Education campus in Saidapet.

In addition to physical restoration efforts, the state will implement a ₹20-crore digital museum project spanning a two-year period. This initiative is designed to upgrade and digitize collections across the primary Chennai government museum in Egmore alongside 23 district-level museums throughout Tamil Nadu.

The policy blueprint also incorporates technological innovation for archaeological study, allocating ₹1.5 crore toward a dedicated project that will use artificial intelligence to decipher ancient stone inscriptions found across the state.