Kite Museum Ahmedabad
By Zalak Patel | Published on : January 22, 2020The Amdavadi sky is the Kite capital of the world – Bhanu Shah.
‘Keeping colorful kites confined to the skies for flying – that is not my Ahmedabad!!!’ – Shree Bhanubhai Shah. Ahmedabad has preserved within itself an all-inclusive world of kites. Occupying the first position in India and second at the international level and originally a brainchild of an ardent Ahmedabadi, this is the Kite Museum Of Ahmedabad that we are talking about.
Bio Sketch : Shree Bhanubhai Shah
In the bylanes of Kalupur ( a suburb in Ahmedabad), this young man fell in love with the kite or should we put it the other way around, the kite fell in love with Shri Bhanu Shah !!! Shree Bhanubhai Shah is an artist, poet, writer, an ardent kite lover and also the Director of the Kite Museum. His inspiration towards setting up the kite museum was the director of Denmark’s Tropical museum. In order to put the dots together and set up the museum, Bhanubhai took to researching the history of kites for about 4.5 years.
In an alley of the famed Sanskar Kendra building designed by the world-renowned Le Corbusier, the kite museum stands tall. The museum boasts of kite history spanning years 200 BC till 1985. The museum was functional from 27th February 1986. Kites act as interlinks in the culture of many countries by way of religion, faith, hobby, art, hunting, war, festivals, and varied other faiths and beliefs. This kite museum in Ahmedabad boasts of a collection of about 100 kites. Sanskar Kendra gives its visitors a glimpse of the cultural symphonies of Ahmedabad by showcasing a multitude of facets like art, sculpture, traditions, and history.
Kite Varieties
Talk of the kite museum and you should not miss the craftsmanship on a kite smaller than the size of a human finger !!! Exceptional !!! is the word. My bet that you would be mesmerized by the artwork on the small pieces of paper of that kite. Then there’s a Japanese kite named Nagahata which has glimpses of the Indian kite. It is really amazing to see how the small pieces of paper are joined together to form figurines of flowers, fruits, leaves, and other geometric patterns. Worth a mention is a kite made by piecing together 400 bits of paper, missing it would really mean repenting at the loss of not being able to have a dekko at it. That the inventors of the modern-day airplane ‘The Wright Brothers’ got the inspiration for the same from kites.
So when are you planning to visit this kite museum of my Ahmedabad that is filled with wonder and awesome history?
The museum schedule :
Place: The Kite Museum
Ground Floor, Sanskar Kendra,
Nr. Sardar Bridge, Tagore hall,
Paldi, Ahmedabad 380006
Time: 10:00 – 6:00 ( Holiday on Monday and public holidays)
Entry and Parking free
Photography/Videography prohibited
Special facilities for differently-abled persons.
