January 14, 1874. The date may not matter to the man on the street. But it’s a hugely significant dot on the calendar for the authorities of the Indian Museum. On that day, Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, on his first visit to the museum, was denied entry by the authorities because he was wearing sandals, which did not conform to the dress code. The incident created a flutter in the academic and political circles in Calcutta.

In 1884, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, who managed to fulfil the dress code by donning a pair of pumps, visited the museum’s fossils gallery and was awe-struck to find how trees had turned into rock.

These are a couple of the numerous historic anecdotes that make up the documentary film, Destination Museum, produced by the Indian Museum authorities to mark 190 years of the institution, to be screened on Monday to mark the occasion.

Museum director Shyamal Kanti Chakravorty said on Sunday the film will be available on compact discs for sale. The 20-minute documentary was prepared in the museum’s own studio. “We received a cultural grant-in-aid about three years ago from the Japanese government, which we utilised to construct the studio on our JL Nehru Road campus,” he said.

Sister Nivedita and some of her students from Bosepara School in Bagbazar, who were regular visitors to the museum, have also been featured in the documentary.

Chakravorty said the Indian Museum was the first in the country to capture its history in a documentary film.

Japanese vice-consul in Calcutta T. Fukaya and H. Kubota, an official from the cultural affairs department of Japan, visited the museum on January 29. “They also visited our studio and expressed their satisfaction over its functioning,” he said.

The director observed that the museum had filmed documentaries before, but it was for the first time that a film would be sold to the people commercially. Apart from video-screening the documentary, made by Raja Mitra, the museum will organise seminars as part of the programme to mark its 190th anniversary.

“We have also reprinted a book, The Indian Museum, 1814-1914, the preface of which was written by Ashutosh Mukhopadhyay. Directors of leading museums across the country have arrived to participate in the seminars,” the director added.