The Museum has always been stuck between “House of Wonder” & “Knowledge Enhancing

Institution” to get its unrecognised importance. The museum's view of itself as a place for
scholars made it difficult for it to reach the general public in India. The museum had to balance
its commitment to educating the public with its role as a "Wonder House" for the masses. This
was a challenge because the museum's focus on knowledge and science was often at odds with
the public's desire for amusement and recreation. The museum wanted to be a place for serious
study, but it also wanted to be a fun and exciting place for everyone to visit. This was difficult to
do because the museum's focus on knowledge and science was often not what people were
looking for.

The museums always faced challenges in balancing the scholars and the populars , this caused
the museum to turn increasingly inward. The Indian Museum was designed to be a center of
knowledge production, but that it was also intended to be a site of popular education. The Indian
Museum was a place where the colonial state could display its power and authority, but that it
was also a place where the Indian public could assert its own cultural identity.

Considering the illiteracy of the vast population of India, museums were one of the best methods
of visual learning, as this would help the native who could not understand something new without
seeing or visualizing it. But this visualization alone wasn’t enough to turn curious and wondrous
eyes of natives into some sort of scientific gaze. The mere staging of archeology created a wide
rift between seeing and knowing.

There was a critical absence of educated audience, who could have paved the way for museum to
be “Institution of Knowledge and Culture” more than being just a “Wonder House” . The museum’s
pedagogical project was to create an audience that appreciate the value of culture and
understand its importance but was greatly obstructed by lack of such audience.

Museums bridge the gap between wonder and knowledge by providing visitors with the
opportunity to learn about the world around them in a way that is both informative and engaging.
They offer visitors a chance to marvel at the beauty and complexity of the natural world, the
achievements of human culture, and the mysteries of the past, while also providing them with the
knowledge and tools they need to understand these things more deeply.