Udupi: Hasta Shilpa Trust to Open Museum of Arts, Crafts at Heritage Village
 
News & Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RD/SB)
 
Udupi, Sep 17: Sanna Selin, first secretary of the Embassy of Finland, New Delhi, will inaugurate newly set up museum of arts and crafts at Heritage village, here by city based Hasta Shilpa Trust on Thursday September 17 at 6.00 pm. Hasta Shilpa Trust has been renowned for restoring centuries-old structures besides setting up many galleries at the Heritage Village. 

 
The museum comprising basement, a ground floor and a first floor has a Gallery of Ritual Arts, which consists of old wooden idols and panels of gods and deities in classical tradition apart fro statues carved out of stones as well as specific objects used for rituals in Tulunadu. The first floor houses the galleries of alankar, sringar and vilas that contains a large number of decorative crafts, articles and artefacts used by women and men, in the bygone era in the undivided Dakshina Kannada district. The basement comprises old wooden pillars that depict the dynasties of families in the agrarian society. 
 
Vijayanath Shenoy, the brain behind the Heritage Village and founder-secretary of the Trust said that the beauty of the houses in coastal and Malnad regions lay in the way its makers used the wooden pillars. “The people in those regions had perfected this art over the centuries and these pillars are a testimony to the artistic skills of craftsmen of the era,” he added.
 
Shenoy has procured nearly 3,000 artefacts including rare terracotta figures and exotic containers from across the world for display at global arts section of the gallery, here.