Heritage Electric Theatre to turn Museum
CHENNAI: Another century-old building in Chennai will shape up as a museum, this one on philately. The Electric Theatre, on the Anna Road Head Post Office campus, will house the museum with a special focus on developments pertaining to stamp-collection in Chennai and department of posts.
Official sources said the objective was to attract tourists. Currently, 2,250 sq ft of the 6,000sqft structure hosts a round-the-year philatelic exhibition round. The museum, which will come up on the remaining space, now used for other postal operations, will be the first of its kid launched by India Post which runs similar museums at New Delhi and Agra.
It will include replicas of oldest stamps and special covers in the country and development of the postal department in Chennai. The philatelic bureau at Electric Theatre has a collection since 1952 including the commemorative stamp marking the centenary celebrations of University of Madras in 1957. Modelled on the National Philatelic Museum at New Delhi, the proposed facility will feature the growth of posts in the city along with that of the GPO, one of the oldest in the country. “We are planning to establish the museum and our aim is to make it a tourist attraction,” said R Anand, postmaster general, Chennai City Region. The postal department will coordinate with the state tourism department to promote it, he added.
Presently, except for philatelists, travellers hardly visit the Electric Theatre. Established in 1913, it was the first in the Mount Road area to screen silent films. The post and telegraphs department purchased it in 1951 for constructing the Mount Road head post office and since August 2017 has been organising a permanent philatelic exhibition, with the themes changing every month.
Courtesy: The Times of India, 25 Nov, 2018.
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