Following a cabinet decision, a 23-member team of archeologists and representatives of concerned ministries, security agencies and various political parties, led by Director General at the Department of Archeology (DoA) Vesh Narayan Dahal, had unlocked the Hanuman Dhoka treasure room on April 4, and a huge amount of antique items, artifacts, coins, idols and jewelry, all worth billions of rupees, was discovered. [break]
After the find, the government had formed a 13-member committee headed by Sarswati Singh, executive director of Hanuman Dhoka Museum Development Committee (HDMDC), to make an inventory of all the items found and submit a report to the ministry concerned.
Organizing a function inside the durbar premises Friday, the committee submitted a 329-page report, including a list of the materials discovered in the treasure room to Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ram Kumar Shrestha.
The report divided into three sections lists the discovered materials in 18 different categories, which includes historically, culturally, artistically, religiously and archeologically significant items like brick-shaped silver bars, golden balls, crowns, silver and golden coins and utensils, raw gold, jewelries embedded with precious stones, idols, golden and silver medals embedded with diamonds for warriors, and wildlife items like rhino and tusker horns, among others.
Speaking at the program, Sushil Ghimire, chief of the HDMDC, said many items found in the treasure house have heritage value and they are priceless, the government should put such items on public display at the museum. “We will submit the items having monetary value to the government. But historically and archeologically important materials like crowns, coins, utensils, inscriptions, idols and stones should be placed in the museum,” he said.
He informed that expert believe that the recovered treasure and the artifacts have been stashed away by the Malla, Rana and Shah rulers in the past with the aim of using the treasure in the time of turbulence.
Likewise, Vesh Narayan of DoA maintained that the discovered items will used for promoting tourism. So, the items should be put on display at the museum. “We urge the concerned ministry to allocate a budget and form a gallery inside the museum and put the items on display. The items are sure to attract both domestic and international tourists.”
Meanwhile, Cultural Minister Shrestha informed that the government will leave no stones unturned to preserve the originality of the historically and archeologically important items discovered.
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