Union Cabinet Approves ₹3,230 Crore Project to Convert North and South Blocks Into Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum

The Union Cabinet has cleared a ₹3,230 crore project to transform New Delhi's historic North and South Blocks into the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum. Spanning over one lakh square metres, the adaptive reuse project aims to create a landmark cultural institution featuring advanced digital exhibits and large visitor capacities.

NEW DELHI — The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the development of the Yuge Yugeen Bharat National Museum in New Delhi's historic North and South Block buildings, allocating a financial outlay of ₹3,230 crore for the project.

Led by the Ministry of Culture, the initiative involves the adaptive reuse of the two iconic structures, which have long served as prominent hubs of the country's administrative establishment. The project plan focuses on preserving the architectural integrity, historic character, and façade of both buildings with minimal structural intervention.

According to the project details, the museum will span a display area of more than one lakh square metres. This scale will make it larger than several globally prominent cultural institutions, including the Louvre in Paris at 73,000 square metres, the British Museum in London at 70,000 square metres, and the Hermitage in St Petersburg at 66,800 square metres.

To adapt the buildings for public access, existing rooms, corridors, and courtyards will be repurposed to house exhibition spaces and galleries, creating a unified visitor experience. The infrastructure is designed to handle a daily footfall of 30,000 visitors, translating to an estimated capacity of one crore visitors annually. Organisers plan to implement crowd-management protocols and timed entry systems to streamline visitor movement.

Alongside thematic galleries that trace India's civilisational journey, continuity, and diversity, the museum layout includes modern amenities. Plans feature artificial intelligence-based exhibits, augmented and virtual reality experiences, performance spaces, a dedicated children's zone, souvenir shops, and food courts.

"The decision by the Union Cabinet to allocate ₹3,230 crore for the adaptive reuse of the North and South Blocks represents a significant large-scale infrastructure and heritage preservation initiative. Transforming key administrative landmarks into a cultural institution with a display area exceeding one lakh square metres opens up diverse opportunities for project management, tourism ecosystem development, and experiential technology providers. From a strategic perspective, large public sector investments of this scale stimulate domestic economic activity across construction, architecture, and digital integration sectors." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes