The Story
OrganizerConceived in the early twentieth century to commemorate the 1905 visit of the Prince of Wales, the museum was designed by George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic style and opened to the public in 1922. Renamed after the Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji, it grew through gifts, purchases and archaeological finds into a comprehensive collection of Indian art and antiquities, complemented by natural-history and European sections. In recent decades it has become a model of museum practice in India, with active conservation, education and exhibition programmes and international collaborations.
CSMVS is one of India's foremost museums and a cornerstone of Mumbai's cultural life, safeguarding a wide-ranging collection of Indian art and antiquities and setting national benchmarks in conservation, scholarship and public engagement.