ASI Interpretation Centres

Interpretation centres at Balligave and Bagali, North Karnataka, Archaeological Survey of India (2006-07)

These remote sites, with very less published on them, required to gather the scattered information from various sources and the existing artefacts, to tie into a “story” of the place. Each of these was an influential capital in history, today small villages with scattered ruins and mounds. The challenge was to utilise the existing artefacts, the gathered research and the given building (already existing) into an interpretation centre to bring out the forgotten history and highlight effectively the importance of the place.

A personal note on Site Interpretation Centres
Visitors can hardly grasp or take with them, the actual importance of a place and its “things”. Interpretation Centre is aimed at providing an experience to the visitor that he/she is able to appreciate, learn and feel pride in the human endeavours of history. Centre is a dedicated space that provides “information” with visuals and/or artefacts to achieve this goal. Apart from utilising lighting, pedestal design and graphic info panels, the design of interpretation centre requires understanding of visitor psychology (sufficient interesting detail), movement (sequence, rhythm and pause) to tie with “content”. Content research dictates how the design is to be. The intent is to satisfy as well as arouse visitor’s curiosity in the place and its “things”. Interpretation Centres differ from Museums as being located at the historical site and have a greater need to utilise the available context.