HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, April 26: A team of Assam Legislative Assembly delegation led by Biswajit Daimary, Speaker, Assam Legislative Assembly and Taranga Gogoi, MLA, visited the Guimet Museum, the National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris. The delegation met Vincent LEFÈVRE, Muséum director and Hélène Gascuel, curator in-charge of the textile collection. The Guimet is one of the largest museums of the collections of Asian art outside of Asia, it is widely known as the National Museum of Asian Arts – Guimet.
Notably, the museum was founded by industrialist Émile Étienne Guimet and opened in Lyon in 1879 but later shifted to Paris in 1889. Speaker Biswajit Daimary stated that the delegation was shown the Vrindavani Vastra, which is a drape woven by Assamese weavers led by Mathuradas Burha Aata during 16th century under the guidance of Srimanta Sankardeva, a great Vaishnavite saint and scholar of Assam. The Vrindavani Vastra was not on public display and specially preserved in a room but specially shown to the Assam delegation due to arrangements made by the Indian Embassy in Paris. He also added that the delegation requested the museum authorities for the exhibition or display of the Vrindavani Vastra in Assam in the near future. The museum authorities are also very positive in the matter and the matter is to be taken up for further action through the Indian Embassy in Paris.
