12 March,2013 11:31 PM IST | | Kartiki Nitin Lawate
As you enter the temple-like DD Rege Sant Vastu Sangrahalaya, you will spot the beautiful pictures and paintings of saints from across the country. The museum is dedicated to showcasing rare and valuable artefacts, regularly handled articles and belongings of saints. The museum was started by veteran artist late DD Rege to preserve the cultural heritage of the country.
An antique statue of Hanuman
Gajanan Maharaj's artefacts
The DD Rege Museum Gallery has a display area which showcases paraphernalia of various saints pertaining to different religions, states and countries. There are articles, paintings and books as well.
Shivdurga A Marathe is the caretaker of the museum
Padukas from the collection
Shivdurga A Marathe, who is the caretaker of Sant Vastu Sangrahalaya and DD Rege's daughter, pointed out that, "There are 150 items on display and twice a year, we remove all the artefacts and switch them with new ones. We ensure they are free of pests and we handle the artefacts delicately."
A letter by Veer Savarkar
Marathe pointed out that her father did not want to commercialise the venture and hence the artefacts are not for sale. "We often get calls from people saying that they will give us blank cheques if we give them the original artefacts but we refuse as that was never the intention," she adds.
A collection of sticks used by saints
Marathe admits that their visitors are usually middle-aged and she hopes that youngsters also get interested to drop by.
