Philadelphia Art Museum's South Asian Galleries to Close for a Year

THE PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER
By Stephan Salisbury, Inquirer Staff Writer

The Pillared Temple Hall exhibit will be retooled to focus on its religious roots. (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

PENNSYLVANIA---The South Asian galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art - the eight second-floor rooms containing such dramatic works as the mammoth Pillared Temple Hall built in the 16th century in southern India - will be closed for more than a year after Sunday. Museum officials said Wednesday that the closure, long in the planning, will allow a complete rethinking of how the South Asian collection is presented to the public. New video and digital technology will be deployed as well, allowing for a richer and, officials hope, more personal experience for museumgoers. The galleries will reopen in fall 2016. [link]