Ordinary Museum. Extraordinary Experience.

Croydon then

Museums are one of the entertaining ways to know a new city or a neighbourhood and especially for those who are a newcomer. Well-known museums have varied and rare attractions to put their visitors in awe. But at times, even tiny ones instore surprises for their viewers. Croydon, one of the boroughs of outer London has its museum, conspicuously located in the arts facilities of the clocktower building in Central Croydon. Even though it is small, its collections date back to the Roman era. As you enter its display room, it is hard to miss out on two illustrations made by the first Noble Laureate from India. For a moment, I felt those paintings were surreal; Rabindranath Tagore would not have visited Croydon, of all places, in his visits to England. Soon, the note on the wall from the museum authority settled the whirlwind of queries in my head. The message says a gentleman, Ronald Newson, of Norbury, worked with Rabindranath Tagore in Shantiniketan, a university he founded. The poet presented his self-portrait and the painting with five faces to Newson for his excellent services in Shantiniketan.

Before I could get over my excitement of finding a new bond between Croydon and Shantiniketan, the book covers with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle intrigued me. I was swelling with pride that I was sharing the Borough with the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who once lived here with his family. That was not all; he even wrote a murder mystery around the Croydon clock tower. The very building where the museum is located was fascinating enough for the writer to make it immortal amongst his readers across the world. As you walk out of the building and see the grand statue of Queen Victoria and the clock tower watching over the queen of Imperial England, you travel back in time. This Borough witnessed many historical events that have influenced England and the entire world. Seventy-five years ago, the Caribbeans came in a ship called HMT Empire Windrush and settled here; the bombing of the Second world war destroyed many of its buildings and establishments, and a few centuries back, the East India Company had their seminary here. London Borough of Croydon has a glorious past; it is time to reclaim its past lustre.