The media delegation from Telangana, as part of the PIB Hyderabad media tour to Kolkata, visited the Museum of Word at the historic Belvedere House in the National Library campus, Kolkata. The museum offers an immersive journey through India’s rich linguistic, literary, oral and performing traditions, highlighting the evolution and diversity of Indian languages.

Museum of Word looks at the journey of Indian languages and scripts. The foyer depicts the oldest and the newest writing systems of India. The Indus Saraswati Civilization, thriving from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, developed a script with approximately 400 undeciphered symbols, making it the oldest known script in the subcontinent. In contrast, the Gondi Gunjali script, rediscovered in 2006 in Telangana's Adilabad district, represents the latest addition to India's writing systems.

The Museum of Word, India’s first immersive language museum, was inaugurated on July 19, 2026. Developed as a project of the Ministry of Culture through the National Library and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), the museum seeks to showcase the multilingual oral and written diversity of Indian languages and their cultural and social significance.

Spread across approximately 2,282 square metres, the first phase of the museum comprises nine curated galleries. These galleries explore the evolution of language, scripts, literature and communication, taking visitors from early forms of human expression and the Indus-Saraswati civilisation to contemporary linguistic traditions. The museum also highlights India's oral and performing traditions, literary heritage and the role of public libraries in preserving and disseminating knowledge.

 

The nine galleries are First Word, My Mother Tongue, Navrasa, Journey of Languages, Honouring the Legends, Oral Traditions, Performing Traditions, Global Dialogue and Public Library Movement. Through interactive installations, audio-visual presentations, artefacts and immersive technologies, the galleries present the evolution of India's languages and scripts and the diverse ways in which language has shaped knowledge, culture and society.

The museum's narrative encompasses the 121 languages recorded in the Census of India 2011, while also recognising historical languages that are no longer in everyday use, taking the broader linguistic canvas to nearly 380 languages. It traces the development of speech, scripts, manuscripts, inscriptions, printing traditions and contemporary forms of communication, including the revival of the Gunjala Gondi script.

The project has a sanctioned outlay of ₹41 crore and is being implemented in phases. Phase I, comprising the exhibition space on the first floor of Belvedere House, was developed at a cost of ₹15 crore. Subsequent phases are envisaged to include additional galleries, a souvenir shop and café, and façade projection mapping.

The Museum of Word establishes a distinctive connection between language and the National Library, where the preservation of books and manuscripts is complemented by an experiential presentation of India's living linguistic traditions. The museum provides visitors, students, researchers and the wider public an opportunity to understand the evolution of India's languages and appreciate their continuing cultural significance.

The visit formed part of the PIB Hyderabad media delegation's five-day media tour to Kolkata, aimed at providing journalists from Telangana an opportunity to gain first-hand exposure to important national institutions, initiatives and developmental projects in the region.

 

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