Sports and Culture
International Museum Day: A look inside 2 most prominent sports museums in India
On the occasion of the International Museum Day 2021, let's have a look at two of the most prominent Sports Museums in India – Blades of Glory and Fanattic Sports Museum.
Sports museums in India (Source: Archello)
The International Museum Day is celebrated annually on May 18 ever since it was first celebrated in the year 1977. This day gives an opportunity for professionals working with museums to sensitize common people about various challenges faced by museums.
On the occasion of the International Museum Day 2021, let's have a look at two of the most prominent Sports Museums in India – Blades of Glory and Fanattic Sports Museum.
Blades of Glory Museum
A museum solely dedicated to the sport of cricket, the Blades of Glory is located in the city of Pune in Maharashtra. Dubbed as the world's biggest cricket museum, it was started by Rohan Pate – a former Maharashtra U-19 cricketer, in the year 2012. Pate's grandfather wanted him to do something big in cricket. Failing to make it big in the sport, he decided to start a museum.
The museum was inaugurated by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar and boasts of more than 30 thousands cricket items.
Spread over an area of 5000sq ft., Blades of Glory possesses the rarest of rare cricketing memorabilia. It has to its credit bats signed by each member of World Cup winning teams, personal cricket equipment signed by some of the greatest players in cricketing history and much more.
A museum started by Rohan Pate just to keep his grandfather's dream alive, the Blades of Glory today is one of the biggest attractions for cricket fans from all across the globe.
Fanattic Sports Museum
Located in the city of Kolkata, the Fanattic Sports Museum (FSM) is India's first ever multi-sport museum. It was established by renowned sports journalist, Boria Majmudar along with Harshvardhan Neotia – the chairman of Ambuja Neotia group.
Inaugurated by the prominent names of Indian sports like Sachin Tendulkar, Abhinav Bindra, and others, the FSM boasts of memorabilia collected by Boria Majmudar over the course of 25 years.
A look inside Fanattic Sports Museum
Spread over an area of 7000 sq. ft., the Fanattic Sports Museum has to its credits rare artifacts like the first-ever sports magazine published in India in the year 1837, a cancelled passport of India's first ever Test captain C.K. Nayudu, a jersey worn by the legendary Brazilian footballer Pele in the 1970 World Cup and much more.
Besides the artifacts used by able-bodied athletes, the FSM also possesses jerseys of medal-winning Paralympians like Deepa Malik and Devendra Jhajharia.
