On a sultry September morning, I decided to explore Puducherry’s White Town or its French Quarter by walking around the streets whose French names have always intrigued me. I was attracted by a beautiful yellow hued sprawling heritage building. Wondering if I could enter, I hesitatingly stepped into the courtyard which had a garden. The security guard asked me to come in. “This is the The French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) and there is a small museum on the first floor as well as a research centre on the ground floor,” he informed. I quickly bought an entry ticket and made my way to the ground level.
RESEARCH RHETORIC
The IFP is a research centre under the joint supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French National Centre for Scientific Research. Its scientific outreach is international, although it remains primarily focused on research in India and on India. The IFP contributes to the conservation of cultural heritage (languages, regions, architecture, medicine) and natural heritage (environment, forests) while taking into consideration the powerful socio-economic dynamics that impact the country.
The two century-old colonial building has a library on the ground level where photography is not allowed. It is accessible on weekdays. The place is filled with over 67,000 books and 140 current journals stacked in old wooden cupboards. There are wooden chairs and tables where you can read and do your research. As part of the research, the current 80-member team, including 50 researchers and research assistants of India, French and other nationalities, do field work and data collection for projects, books and academic articles.
MUSEUM MUSINGS
The first floor houses a mini museum that is filled with posters explaining the research activities carried out by the Institute. It also screens short films on its research activities. There is also a permanent exhibition of the history of Puducherry between the 17th and 18th century.
The expertise of the centre lies in manuscript analysis, pollen study for archaeology and the Smart Cities project of the Government of Puducherry. The museum houses over 8,000 bundles of palm leaves that are searchable online. The collection on the Shaiva Siddhantha is inscribed in UNESCO’s ‘Memory of the World Register’.
There is also a photo archive of over 1.35 lakh images that are a unique source of visual information on the architectural and religious heritage of South India. This has in fact been used to trace stolen statues and a new collection of studio photographs in Tamil Nadu is being constituted that contains 10,000 digital images.
The Herbarium here has over 24,000 specimens, some of which were collected in the 19th century. This has been used for assessing the impact of climate change. The pollen collection includes 15,500 species of pollen useful to study past environments.
The top floor also has an expansive open terrace that overlooks the sea and the entire promenade area which makes for stunning photographs. The place is funded through grants from IFP’s supervisory authorities and from European and French public funds, international funds as well as Indian sources and private funding.
This is a place like no other, do make your date with an interesting take on history the next time you are in Puducherry.
FACT FILE
- French Institute of Pondicherry, Saint Louis Street, Puducherry.
- Timings: Open to public everyday between 9 am and 6 pm.
- Entry fee: Rs 100 per person.
