₹3,230 crore Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum approved for North and South Block

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (11 November) approved ₹3,230 crore to develop the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum inside the historic North and South Block buildings in New Delhi. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared the project, which will reuse the two buildings that housed government offices for about a century.

The museum will present what the government calls India's civilisational journey and its tangible and intangible cultural heritage. It will be spread over a proposed built-up area of about 1.78 lakh square metres and, according to the Culture Ministry's statement, will have the largest display area of any museum in the world. It is being equipped to handle over one crore visitors a year, The Indian Express reported.

The work will be done in phases between 2026-27 and 2030-31. The first gallery, on the theme of adornment, is expected to open to the public in North Block in the second half of 2027, The Hindu reported. Around 1.8 million objects have been identified for display from the National Museum and other Culture Ministry museums, 52 Archaeological Survey of India site museums, state museums and private collections. Other galleries are planned on architecture and cityscapes, mathematics and astronomy, languages and scripts, and faith and spirituality, among other themes.

The buildings are being reused after government offices moved out. “The project seeks to preserve the architectural and heritage character of these iconic buildings while giving them a new institutional role,” the official statement said, according to The Hindu. It also covers collection storage and conservation facilities, visitor amenities, landscaping and building systems.

Prime Minister Modi announced the museum on 18 May 2023. The Public Investment Board appraised the proposal on 27 July 2026. The Indian Express reported that Los Angeles-based architect Kulapat Yantrasast was signed as principal architect by the Culture Ministry after a public tender last year.