In a 1999 lecture, the late Emmanuel N. Arinze, President of the Commonwealth Association of Museums stated that museums "hold the cultural wealth of the nation in trust for all generations and by its function and unique position, have become the cultural conscience of the nations."

As an ode to museums around the world, the first Biennale of its kind ‘The Bihar Museum Biennale 2021’, A golden opportunity for the museum and artefact lovers across the nation, where they were able to look into some of the most amazing museums in India and across the world by just clicking few buttons without any difficulty or without bothering to go from one place to another.

Museum is for people who have a lot of time...Retired people go to museums...! Are all the fun places in the world have closed down, so that we have go to the museums to hang out? If these thoughts strike your mind on a daily basis. Then, here we are to prove you wrong.

In a 1999 lecture, the late Emmanuel N. Arinze, President of the Commonwealth Association of Museums stated that museums "hold the cultural wealth of the nation in trust for all generations and by its function and unique position, have become the cultural conscience of the nations." Do you find it too hard to understand? Let us help you figure this out that "Museums are not only a place to chill, it can be a place to teach, inspire and unite as well. In fact, museums can speak thousand words in silence and it can change the time into spaces."

As an ode to museums around the world, the first Biennale of its kind ‘The Bihar Museum Biennale 2021’, A golden opportunity for the museum and artefact lovers across the nation, where they were able to look into some of the most amazing museums in India and across the world by just clicking few buttons without any difficulty or without bothering to go from one place to another.

This was only possible because of the Bihar Museum Biennale 2021, which is also said to be the first ever museum biennale of the world. Organized by the Department of Arts, Culture and Youth affairs, government of Bihar, the biennale was opened on the occasion of Bihar Diwas on March 22, 2021.

The event was inaugurated by Mr. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar in the presence of Mr. Anjani Kumar Singh, the Nodal Officer of Bihar Museum and Advisor to the Chief Minister and Mr. Deepak Anand, Director, Bihar Museum. The whole idea of organizing the biennale was conceived by Mr. Anjani Kumar Singh along with the Chief Minister of Bihar. According to him, the idea behind holding this event was to involve all the Indian museums and get them to build their artefacts, to make people gain know about the strength of museums. He also said the difference between this and any other biennale is, here instead of just artist participating in the event, the event involves participation of museums. He also insisted, that all the people who don’t know about the museums of India, they will be able to know about its history, story and range of display through the event.

Initially conceived as a physical, three month long event, the biennale later, was held as a hybrid event between March 22 to 28. Through largely online, the event was also held physically at the Bihar Museum in Patna.

During the course of seven days, the museum organized especially curated virtual tours of the participating national and international museums both online as well as at the Bihar Museum in Patna. The museums participating in the biennale included 12 Indian and 6 international museums both online as well as at the Bihar Museum, Patna. 

The museums which participated included:-
Assam State Museum, Guwahati; City Palace Museum, Udaipur; Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal; Kanha Museum of Life and Art,Mandla; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Museo Camera, Gurgaon; Museum of Art and Photography, Bangalore; Museum of Goa, Panaji; National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Piramal Museum, Mumbai and Virasat-e- khalsa, Anandpur Sahib.

The international museums included Museo Nacional De Las Intervenciones or The National Museum of Interventions, Mexico; Liberation War Museum, Bangladesh; National Museum of Columbia, Sarmaya Art Foundation and The Castle Museum in PCZCZYNA, Poland.

The event which was highly anticipated among the art lovers also included international conferences and masterclasses by experts. Beginning with the opening speech by Mr. Anjani Kumar, Nodal Officer, Bihar Museum. The event featured speakers including Mannu Pillai, famous author and historian who spoke on ‘ The Art of Writing about Cultures’ ; Vinod Bhardwaj, art and film critic and writer’s speech on 'The Art of Film-making’ , followed by speeches from Purushottam Agrawal, Indian writer who spoke on 'Cultural Translation through Art’ ,Sabyasachi Mukherji, Director General of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai and many more.

The international speaker of the event featured personalities like Neil Mac Gregor, famous British art historian, Hilary Knight, Director of Digital at the Tate, UK, Souraya Noujaim, Scientific Curatorial and Collections Management Director at Louvre, Abu Dhabi and Javier Barón Thaidigsmann from Museo Del Prado, Madrid.
The other speakers at the event also include Abhai Sardesai, Sarat Maharaj, Saryu Doshi, Shikha Jain and others.

Additionally, the museum also featured two exhibitions: first on the making of the Bihar Museum by the leading architect Rahul Gore and other which showcased the rich collections of nineteen local state museums of Bihar. The Bihar Museum had also marked 25 must see things that could be covered in an hour. The facility of using maps or renting audio guide was also possible for those who were present physically at the venue.

According to Dr. Alka Pande, Project Director of the Bhar Museum Biennale, “as an art historian I can say that the soul of India, the heart of India in many ways in Bihar whether it’ s Patliputra or Magadha. Bihar Museum Biennale will be an opportunity to bring out a compendium of the Indian museum and to celebrate their respective collections, each telling its own story.”

The Biennale has been considered as a key initiative of the cultural calendar of Bihar government and a moment of glory for the people of Bihar.