A fire has broken out in the Patna Museum, the state museum of Bihar in India. The institution, founded in 1917 during the British Raj, has been closed since June last year for redevelopment. The blaze started in an under-construction new wing with several fire trucks in attendance.
The museum holdings include archaeological objects, coins, instruments, textiles, thankas, and sculptures and ceramics, a First World War cannon and the fossil of a 200 million years old tree; as well as a rare collection of paintings that depict day-today life under British rule.
The institution has not said if there was any damage to the collection, but the PTI News Agency reports most of the artefacts and art objects were stored in one of the new completed galleries while the older building also underwent refurbishment.
No injuries or deaths were reported.
