KARACHI, Sept 22: The State Bank of Pakistan Museum, according to its director Dr Asma Ibrahim, needs to have a sense of ownership by the bank’s employees.

“One has to encourage pride in people and one way to do it is through museums which tell people about their roots,” says Dr Asma. Sceptical and not quite understanding what the archaeologist was up to, the employees let Dr Asma work on building the monetary and art collection of the museum.

The museum which took nearly six years of Dr Asma and her team’s lives to create the only specialist economic and central banking museum in Pakistan, inaugurated on July 1, 2011, began to offer summer art camp, calligraphy workshops, souvenir making among its other activities catering to their employees’ children.

“The parents feel proud to bring their children to their workplace where they are actively engaged,” says Dr Asma. And more importantly the parents working at State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) felt a sense of ownership, she added.

Widening the circle of inclusion, Dr Ibrahim decided to organise museum tours for physically handicapped visitors, getting in touch with schools and colleges for the disabled. “The response was phenomenal,” says Dr Asma. Consequently, she is now in talks with Brazilian educationists to facilitate touch tours by developing tactile activities to visitors who are blind.

Another exciting event at the museum will be the official inauguration of Zahoorul Akhlaq’s mural ‘Freedom Fighters’ displayed at the Contemporary Art Gallery, expected to happen soon. Damaged by termites and dust the painting has undergone major restoration work by the conservation team at the museum.

Donated by a private collector, who was most impressed by the museum’s remarkable collection of coins, paper currency, stamps, the Sadequain Gallery displaying huge murals and metal collages made by Sadequain exclusively for State Bank of Pakistan, the painting will be on a permanent loan to the museum located on I.I. Chundrigar Road.

“There are private collectors who are looking around for art galleries that are not-for-profit ventures where they would like the world to see their collection. Hence, it is a positive sign for the museum that a private collector has donated a painting from her personal collection,” says Dr Ishrat Husain, former State Bank governor and the brainchild behind the State Bank Museum.

“This will bring attention to other private collectors who will have the confidence to share their paintings with us that will greatly benefit new upcoming artists and anyone who is interested in art,” adds Dr Husain.

Other projects in the pipeline include a publication regarding rare coins of Durrani rulers that are under possession of the State Bank Museum and a compilation of oral history interviews of bank employees to document the history of State Bank, development of the banking industry and changes in the city.

How it started

According to the Museum Guide Book, it all began when Sabiha Hasan, former director, external relations department, SBP, brought to Dr Husain’s attention valuable objects of the Archives and Numismatic Museum that were dumped callously in an area of the building. Dr Husain, the then governor of State Bank and an art enthusiast, brought Ms Hasan as a consultant for the museum project in 2005. An advisory committee was formed whose objectives included advising and help in identifying historic documents, bank notes, coins and other precious objects.

“Every central bank has a museum and an art gallery and we are no exception. This heritage building used to have a library which we shifted to another location. The idea was to preserve and showcase different kinds of currencies to educate our younger generation,” says Dr Husain.

A year later, Dr Asma joined the bank her central task being to preserve the building which was constructed for Imperial Bank of India in the 1920s by the British government. A Greco-Roman structure built with Jodhpuri red sandstone, its unique feature is its fish-scale glass ceiling joined with screws.

Challenges

“There were plans to replace the glass and bronze skylight by an architect consultant but I put my foot down as it was against conservation and heritage principles,” says Dr Asma.

Lack of maintenance had taken its toll on the skylight as it was considered to be in fragile condition, hence a detailed survey was carried out with conservation experts and metal manufacturers. According to the Museum Guide Book: “Special conservation methods were taken up to restore and strengthen that piece of art.” As one walks under its roof, one certainly cannot help but be impressed by this architectural feat which is a landmark of this building.

Another task was to treat and preserve the original Burma teak doors and wall skirting which were going to be replaced with Lasani wood but again due to Dr Asma’s intervention this scheme was also stopped.

The main theme of the money museum was to show the origin of money from cowrie shells to e-banking. “I set about acquiring coins, currencies and stamps which were mostly bought from private collectors,” says Dr Asma. The gold coins and the commemorative coins issued on the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of Allama Iqbal were the most difficult to acquire, says the archaeologist.

Asked that this must have set the Museum’s budget out of control, Dr Asma laughed and said that she had to give lectures to private collectors on national pride to acquire the objects at the fraction of their market price.

Simultaneously, she hired interns from Karachi University’s Visual Studies Department to help design the timelines installed on the walls of the museum that give concise and useful summaries about the history of coinage, currency and stamps.

Undoubtedly, one is captivated by the astounding collection at Coin Gallery 1 ranging from the period of Indo-Greek to Kushans and at Coin Gallery II from Arabs in Sindh to Nadir Shah. “A real outstanding museum of coin and currency but of history as well, made with a lot of knowledge and creativity,” writes Dr Monique Kevran, the former head of French archaeological expedition in Sindh (1989-2002), in the museum’s visitors’ book.

Artifacts such as currency note printing machine, coin minting machine, note defacing machine all of which were unusable and dumped outside were restored by a metal conservationist who not only joined parts of the machinery but also made it operational, says Dr Ibrahim.

The State Bank also possesses an exclusive collection of Sadequain’s paintings and artwork which according to Dr Husain was rotting. “I had this idea to have a gallery dedicated to Sadequain’s work at the museum otherwise he would be forgotten by future generations and hence it was important that we preserve his work,” he says.

Will it sustain itself?

The Sadequain Gallery now houses four of his significant murals and wood and metal collages along with his personal photographs. “State Bank has done a great job in preserving everything of Sadequain,” said Ismail Ibrahim, assistant commissioner, Quetta, articulating his thoughts in the visitors’ book kept at the Museum that has been visited by more than 5,000 people since its inauguration.

As with all projects that begin enthusiastically but fizzle out primarily due to neglect, Dr Asma says this is because we don’t develop institutions and rely on individuals. Indeed, others are also concerned about the sustainability of the museum. Noman Khan’s comments strike a chord: “A hidden treasure. Please, keep this alive at any cost.”

“I have made the museum which was relatively easy but maintaining it, now, that is going to be a challenge. I am ready to train a team that takes care of State Bank Museum and continues to attract visitors,” says Dr Asma.

Hopefully, Dr Asma and her team’s painstaking efforts will not be in vain.