Rup Narayan Dhakal

Pokhara, February 9:

There has been a decrease in visitors to the Pokhara regional museum.

According to the curator, Uttam Raj Khanal, the number of visitors dropped by 10.82 per cent in the last fiscal year as compared to the year preceding.

Khanal said that 22,730 persons had visited the museum. An additional 2,500 visitors are estimated to have visited the museum ‘free’. These usually include students visiting the museum every Friday and Saturday.

The museum is pursuing an education-oriented policy rather than being just profit motivated, said Khanal.

According to statistics, Rs 1,24,035 were collected in the fiscal year 2002/2003, while Rs 1,18,685 in the last fiscal year.

Visitors are charged a nominal entry fee: those below 16 years of age are charged Re 1, those above 16 Rs 2, visitors from the SAARC countries have to pay Rs 5, while those from the rest of the world Rs 10.

The items on display cover a wide range of cultural and racial variance of the western region with traditional costumes, musical instruments, ornaments and historical artefacts related to domestic and daily lives being displayed.

Forty-one types of traditional ornaments worn by the people of the region are also on display. Most of these ornaments are gradually disappearing.

The museum boasts of an additional attraction — since last year visitors can enjoy audio-visuals of sites of historical, religious and archaeological importance like the Mahendra cave, Gupteshwor cave, Bindhyabasini temple, Bhadrakali temple.

Also last year, the museum added cultural objects related to Dura community to its displayed items.

The museum is managed and run by eight employees.