British-era collectorate in Thanjavur to get 5D theatre

TIRUCHY: The British era old collectorate building in Thanjavur, which has been set to get a fresh lease of life with various galleries renovated without affecting the archaic architecture will be an attraction for tourists soon.

After the existing new collectorate building was opened in 2015 near the Tamil University, the 120-year-old British era collectorate building constructed under Indo-Saracenic architecture near Thanjavur combined court building was made into a museum. The building served as the headquarters of erstwhile combined Thanjavur district. Ever since it was converted into a museum, each room had a display depicting the Thanjavur culture. It also had a mega aquarium and folk and cultural events were organised every weekend to attract the tourists.

Still, it failed to attract the attention of the tourists and the footfalls were less than the expected. So, the district administration planned to make the venue as one of the most important places for tourists.

At this juncture, a fund of Rs 9.90 crore was allocated under the Smart City programme to the museum (old collectorate). With this, renovation works are being carried out without affecting the age-old heritage and a 5D theatre is also under construction.

“The PWD has constructed a few new structures in the building, but it was thought to maintain the original structure and so we have removed them. Works are on to keep the traditional Indo-Saracenic architecture intact,” an official from Thanjavur civic administration said.

He also said that there will be a 5D attraction which would screen the ancient life style of Thanjavur. The visitor would get a real time feel about the old Thanjavur, he said. “Based on the fund availability, musical fountain would also be stablished,” he added.

Around 40 per cent of work is over and the entire work would be over by six months. District Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver visited the ongoing works on Thursday and instructed to accelerate the works.

Meanwhile, the tourist enthusiasts appealed to the civic administration and the Collector to renovate the pathway from Big temple to the old collectorate via GA canal which would attract the tourists a lot.