The government of the Indian state of Maharashtra Wednesday decided to re-name the famed Prince of Wales Museum in the western city of Bombay after a Hindu warrior king, the United News of India reported.
The state cabinet approved a proposal to name the museum, one of India's oldest and largest, after the medieval King Shivaji, who posed a serious challenge to India's erstwhile Mughal rulers.
The Prince Of Wales museum was built to commemorate the 1905 visit to India of King George V, while he was still heir apparent.
Designed in the Indo-Saracenic style, a fusion of Hindu and Muslim architectures, the museum formally opened to the public in 1923.
It boasts a horde of precious exhibits ranging from terracotta figurines dating back to India's pre-historic Indus Valley civilization to rare paintings and sculptures.
Although Maharashtra is currently ruled by India's main opposition Congress party, its earlier Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena (Shivaji's Army) government had renamed other landmarks from British colonial times including Victoria Terminus, a giant railway station which derived its name from Queen Victoria. NEW DELHI, (AFP)
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