IT’S 1PM ON a weekday at the Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya, or the Prime Ministers’ Museum & Library (PMML), in Delhi. Inside the refurbished Teen Murti Bhavan—now Building One of the museum and once the home of India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, for nearly 17 years—an elderly man studies a laser-lit wall displaying the country’s prime ministers. He tries to match faces with memory. “The one next to Nehru… Morarji Desai or Gulzarilal Nanda?” he asks his son, half-certain, half-curious, as visitors move past exhibits on the Constitution and India’s democracy.
Previously known as the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), the new museum was opened to public in 2022, and renamed PMML in 2023. It now portrays the life and work of every prime minister of India.
Upstairs, the gallery becomes intimate, mapping Nehru’s years. His bedroom, study and living room remain as they were in 1964, the year he died. His jacket, cricket bat, and a curated set of his books sit in glass cases. The rooms buzz with schoolchildren as teachers explain the stories behind each project. A young boy pauses before a letter Nehru wrote to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on October 22, 1947, about the destruction of mosques in Delhi. “There, and elsewhere, we have stated that we were specially responsible for the protection of places of worship,” Nehru says to the then home minister.
Across the complex, the newer, tech-heavy Building Two offers a more immersive experience. An AI holobox lets visitors speak directly to a hologram of Patel—no need to exchange letters as Nehru did. Patel fields everything from polite curiosity to the irresistible bluntness of “… so how did it feel when Nehru became the PM and not you?” The section recently added a hologram of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, too, ready to discuss space science or, if you must, answer the perennially nosy, “Why did you choose to remain single?”
“We are now considering adding Mahatma Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the mix,” says Ashwani Lohani, who took charge as the director of the PMML in June.
The galleries trace the events, and milestones of each prime minister’s tenure. Lal Bahadur Shastri’s corner showcases the milk revolution, his slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, and the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Indira Gandhi’s section features bank nationalisation, the Bangladesh Liberation War, Emergency, and her assassination. Scattered throughout are artefacts such as the Bharat Ratnas of Nehru and Vajpayee, and Jayaprakash Narayan’s Emergency-era jail diary.
While seasoned museum-goers may find the material familiar, the PMML distinguishes itself with immersive technology. Visitors can take a photo with a holographic prime minister, walk alongside them, receive a personalised letter in their own handwriting, enjoy a simulated helicopter tour of India’s infrastructural projects, or experience a 7D journey through key military operations—including Narendra Modi’s Balakot airstrike after the 2019 Pulwama attack.
“The idea is to make this India’s finest museum, recognised worldwide,” says Lohani. Beyond spectacle, the PMML also emphasis its vast archival holdings, which scholars frequently consult for “serious research”. Lohani’s vision includes promoting quality research on modern and contemporary India.
The PMML houses over 25 million documents from more than 1,300 individuals and organisations—one of the world’s largest collections of rare archival materials. The archives are divided into three sections—individual, institutional and miscellaneous—and are regularly consulted by researchers studying modern and contemporary Indian history.
A digitisation project is also underway. According to a recent press release, a dedicated platform now enables remote access to the digital archives. Registered scholars can request specific documents online, and, once approved, view the material from their desktops.
With galleries, a library, multimedia installations, an evening light-and-sound show, and cafes, who does the PMML aim to attract? “Everyone—children, the elderly, students, tourists, and scholars,” says Lohani, “We get at least 1,500 visitors every day.”
Back in Building One, where the elderly man was trying to name all the prime ministers, a security officer stands watching, “The place never attracted so many visitors earlier, even when it was free,” says Sanjay Kumar.