Overview
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Museum of Word, known as Shabdalok, at the National Library campus in Kolkata on Sunday, July 19, 2026, and toured the new galleries with state and central ministers present.
- The museum’s first phase comprises nine technology‑driven galleries that use augmented reality, holograms, motion sensors and audio‑visual installations to trace the evolution of India’s 22 constitutionally recognised languages.
- Officials and reports place phase‑one spending at about Rs 14 crore and estimate the full project will cost roughly Rs 41 crore, with the museum housed in Belvedere House on the National Library campus.
- At the opening Shah urged students to learn at least one additional Indian language besides their mother tongue, urged greater use of libraries, and recommended extending the museum’s work into digital and artificial intelligence domains.
- Conceived after a 2020 announcement and developed by the National Library under the Culture Ministry, Shabdalok is meant to be an educational resource for students and tourists and could shape future policy on language preservation, digitisation and multilingual schooling.