How did you land up here?
It began in 2014 when the Indian Church celebrated the golden jubilee of the 1964 International Eucharistic Congress, which was held in Mumbai. That was when Pope Paul VI, now a saint, visited the city, making him the first pope to visit India. As part of the golden jubilee, the archdiocese was organizing an exhibition and wanted interns to help Father Warner D’Souza. He was in charge of the museum and was the chief organizer of the exhibition. Being a history student at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, I decided to intern for a brief span at the museum. It was supposed to be a month-long internship.
So was it love at first sight?
Yes. I clearly remember the joy of going through records dating back to the great Eucharistic Congress. Going through the books and the articles and having the opportunity to handle those precious chalices or objects that were related to the event had a very deep impact on me. I was very much interested in history, but this interesting history of the Church and the city of Mumbai was completely new to me. I remember that the black and white pictures of the event continued to play in my mind even after the exhibition. Here was a newly found history that was not so much talked about or discovered in our syllabus. That was what brought me back to this place after the exhibition in 2015. From then on, my journey at the museum has been nothing short of providential. That is because there have been so many different instances or so many different moments in this place that continue to touch my heart and fuel my desire to work.
How has the journey been so far?
The journey has been going on for seven years now. The joy of working at this place involves regularly taking care of these wonderful objects that have come to us from different parishes of the archdiocese. Inspecting and looking at their condition, the kind of research that is required while studying the objects is done daily. In addition to that, we also practice preventive conservation at the museum which involves taking care of the temperature and humidity, as well as looking out for things like fungus, pests, or insects that could damage the objects. It means closely studying the objects again and again, which is fascinating because every time you look at an object, you discover something new or you kind of develop a different perspective. This brings about a new story that may be related to faith, art, history, heritage, and our identity.
Do you have people regularly visiting the place?
Yes of course. Additionally, we also have internships that are organized regularly during vacations. We have students ranging from Grade 10 to university graduates and above, who come together and take on specific projects. That is something that helps the youth to get involved in a more hands-on way to understand what the artifacts are about, how we can connect to them, and how we can preserve and protect this heritage that is unique in its own way. The best part of working at a museum is also conducting tours for groups of people every weekend. Sometimes there are curious kids who come in and find statues, vestments, or objects that they would’ve seen so far. They understand the artifact’s function, name, and story. On other occasions, young people come in with many unusual questions. Most come in expecting the visit to be boring. But in the end, they walk out with that sense of pride and with a smile on their face. It is something that encourages us. Conducting tours for adults is a unique experience in itself, especially for the elderly because they share their life experiences and bring a whole new dimension or a unique perspective to the museum.
One of the most sought-after objects here is a coffee table book?
Yes. It is one of the publications that the museum has brought out. It is the museum’s first comprehensive publication. It has images of around 110 artifacts, studied in terms of their art, history, symbols, material, technology, liturgical significance and functionality. Through this book, a miniature museum, we find an opportunity to stay connected to our heritage, faith, and art in a unique way. Some images are similar to sacred vessels and objects that are still seen being used in our parishes. The book, therefore, provides a framework to help individuals connect to their own church spaces and of course their heritage, identity and faith.
A corridor in the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum in Mumbai (Photo supplied)
Can you take us through the setting up of this museum?
The museum was opened in 2011, but its origins go back to 2006 when the Archdiocese of Bombay founded what is called the Archdiocesan Heritage Committee. Today the committee has been renamed the Committee for the Preservation and Promotion of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church (CPPAHPC) in Mumbai.
What is the committee all about or what was the motive behind setting up this committee?
Mumbai has a unique and rich history. Even before the Portuguese, Catholic missionaries visited the western coast of India. They also built churches as part of missionary activities. But most of their secular structures are not prominently visible today. Of the churches that the Portuguese built from the 16th century and after, little more than 25 are still standing intact and most are older than the Taj Mahal. It is a challenge to maintain these historic spaces along with their heritage, which is the main function of the heritage committee. The committee visits different churches across the archdiocese and inspects and understands the heritage and seeks ways to protect them.
What sort of committee is this and what is its role?
The committee consists of experts in their respective fields such as an architect, a heritage expert, a historian, and preservation experts. The heritage committee visits parishes and collected artifacts of value. Most of these objects were neglected and found often in graveyards, attics, or sometimes lying in a church compound. Church authorities also donated some of them. The artifacts are displayed according to their timeline, which spans from 100AD to 2010 and is spread across three different genres.
Do various objects continue to be donated?
Yes. There are several laypeople as well as parish churches that continue to donate objects or loan them to the museum. So, our collection continues to grow. When people come to our museum, they look at these artifacts with great awe. The older people remember using some of these artifacts and telling stories about when they were altar servers and how Mass was held in Latin. They also reveal information about how these artifacts were used in worship.
Joynel Fernandes seen with the Body of the Crucifix dating back to the 1630s, which suffered serious damage due to a fire that broke out on a Good Friday at the Church of Our Lady of Bethlehem, Dongri, Mumbai. (Photo supplied)
Can you give us a glimpse of some objects and their importance?
Sure. One of the oldest and most important objects in the museum is an altarpiece called a retable in Portuguese. “Re” means behind and “tablo” means table or altar. Basically, this is a huge structure that you would see behind the main altar of most Portuguese churches. Of course, the retable structure is huge and would perhaps reach right up to the ceiling of a church sanctuary. We can display them only in parts. One of the retables we have is exceptionally beautiful to understand the unique style of Indo-Portuguese art. There are so many different symbols that show the intermingling of two unique styles, right from the use of cashews that replace the bunch of grapes, to angels that are fully clothed in Mughal art style, to the curly hair that is also seen in most of the Gandhara-Mathura sculptures of Buddha. The other local motifs that decorate the altar structure show how the locals were involved in church building and church decoration.
Some pictures of artifacts show the before and after of the restoration process. We do that to spread awareness among our visitors as to how the old objects or structures are, how they have been naturally rendered, and how they can be taken care of, preserved, as well as promoted for the upkeep of our heritage. Another important one we have is a statue of the crucified Christ, dating back to the 1630s. According to legend, the crucifix caught fire on a Good Friday. Since the fire occurred on one of the holiest days it was considered a bad omen and the parish never used it after the fire. The heritage committee found this statue during a visit to a parish in 2010. You would notice its back is burnt. But the piece as a whole is a spectacular work of art, and the Passion of Christ is humanely displayed in terms of its details. The head of the statue is also displayed in a cabinet at the museum.
Is there any international collaboration?
Of course. The museum has collaborated with several other museums both nationally and internationally. The international collaboration includes those with the Museum of South Australia where in 2017 they organized an exhibition called “The Treasure Ships – Art in the Age of Spices.” Four of the artifacts from our museum were loaned for the exhibition for around a year after which they were returned to Mumbai.
The museum has also collaborated with the Museum of the Cathedral of Orvieto in Italy. The story behind this collaboration goes back to 1964 when Pope Paul VI visited. He brought a gift to the archdiocese — a chalice made in commemoration of the Corpus Christi miracle that took place in Orvieto in 1264. In 2019 the museum was invited to Italy for the grand Corpus Christi celebration. The chalice was taken back to Orvieto by Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai and Father Warner D’Souza. It was used once again for the Corpus Christi feast in the cathedral of Orvieto, where the relic of the Eucharistic miracle has been placed. The chalice was displayed in their museum and was then brought back to Mumbai.
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