patna the city where we live today is believed to be one of the oldest metropolises in the world there are a very few places in the city like kumhrar archaeological park which remind us of the rich history of the place in a bid to provide a gateway to the ancient pataliputra city a special gallery is being developed as part of patna museum expansion project patli gallery as the name suggests will showcase the glorious past of the city when it was the capital of the great mauryan empire pataliputra it will be a worldclass audiovisual gallery telling the story of the rise and civilisation of pataliputra city bandana preyashi secretary of art culture and youth affairs department told toi that the gallery is being developed as per the vision and idea of chief minister nitish kumar when we were working on the plans for expansion of the patna museum the chief minister suggested that there should be a separate gallery for showcasing the entire grandeur of ancient pataliputra city and the mauryan empire he is of the view that ancient pataliputra and evolution of its civilisation has never been shown in a grand manner accordingly works have been taken up to develop the patli gallery at patna museum preyashi saidincidentally nitish during a visit to patna museum in october 2017 had said that the british era museum would be expanded in order to give the artefacts a better display nitish had instructed the officials concerned to develop a singlestorey structure all along the boundary wall on three sides of the museum where a majority of the artefacts kept in the store of the museum will be placed the patli gallery is being developed as part of the expansion and renovation works of the museum with an expenditure of rs 135 crore the renovation of the old building includes redesigning of the galleries without altering the heritage look of the existing building the extension works on the other hand includes development of some galleries in the area earlier seen vacant around the existing museum building the singlestorey building is a ushaped structure covering the left right and back side of the existing museum building the patli gallery is basically an audiovisual gallery which will have 3d exhibits showcasing the evolution of pataliputra city as well as magadh region the exhibits will also showcase the expanse of the mauryan empire right from afghanistan in the west to bangladesh in the east the gallery is being developed on a wooden theme vinay kumar regional deputy director of the directorate of museum art and culture department told toi he added works on development of the new galleries as part of the extension of the museum are in advanced stagesthe work on extension of patna museum began in october 2020 vinay said the renovation work of the existing building is taken up the existing artefact will be shifted to bihar museum and once the new building comes up the artefacts will