New Delhi: The government on Thursday joined hands with Google to bring the country's cultural heritage to the public through cutting-edge digital tools, officials said.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Culture and Google Arts & Culture. The partnership will also support the vision for the upcoming Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum in the national capital and the preservation of historic manuscripts, the officials said.
The partnership will reflect the civilisational breadth of India: the monuments and archaeological sites protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and the collections they hold, the holdings of the national museums, the manuscript heritage being documented under Gyan Bharatam, and the crafts, performing arts and living traditions sustained by the ministry’s institutions across the country, the ministry said.
Bringing India’s rich cultural heritage closer to the world through digital innovation.The Ministry of Culture today signed an MoU with Google Arts & Culture (@googlearts) in the presence of Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, and Mr Amit Sood, Vice President and Founder, Google Arts & Culture.The partnership will digitally showcase India’s monuments, museums, manuscripts, crafts, performing arts and living traditions, with a special focus on the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, while fostering global engagement and opportunities in the creative economy.Ms. @LilyPandeya, Joint Secretary, MoC; Shri Gurmeet Singh Chawla, Joint Secretary, MoC; Shri Inderjeet Singh, Joint Secretary, MoC and representatives of Google were also present on the occasion.#CultureUnitesAll
— Ministry of Culture (@MinOfCultureGoI) November 5, 2026
"At its centre is the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum, taking shape in the North and South Blocks of New Delhi as a museum of India's history across the ages. Its digitisation will create a lasting record of the buildings and the wealth of artefacts they will house, and offer the public an early window onto one of the most significant cultural undertakings of our time," it said in a statement.
The MoU is part of the ministry's wider effort to strengthen accessibility and expand its digital initiatives, so that India's heritage can be explored in Indian languages and on any device, the officials said.
It reflects a whole-of-ministry approach in which preservation, public access and the growth of India's creative economy advance together, drawing on institutions of every scale and partners from across sectors, they said.
The MoU was signed at a virtual ceremony in the presence of Union Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal and vice president and founder, Google Arts & Culture, Amit Sood.
"For the past 15 years, Google Arts & Culture has been deeply inspired by India's millennia of storytelling, artistic mastery and vast heritage. Our partnership with the Ministry of Culture represents a shared commitment to preserve India’s timeless treasures with the help of cutting-edge technologies," Sood was quoted as saying in the statement.
"Whether supporting the vision for the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum or preserving historic manuscripts, we are honoured to deploy our technologies to bridge ancient heritage with modern accessibility, making these collections freely discoverable to educate, inspire, and delight curious minds everywhere," he said.
The ministry said the pact seeks to bring India's cultural heritage to the public through cutting-edge digital tools.
Aggarwal said the partnership with Google Arts & Culture "brings technology to bear on documenting, preserving and sharing our inheritance, from ancient manuscripts and monuments to the collections of our national museums and the upcoming Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum.
"By making these treasures available in Indian languages and to audiences across the globe, we hope to bring more people closer to the story of Indian civilisation, and to safeguard it for generations to come," he said.
Google Arts & Culture has had a long association with the ministry's institutions, including the Archaeological Survey of India, the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art, whose collections it has helped bring to wider audiences over the years, the ministry said.
The MoU reaffirms the ministry's commitment to preserving India's civilisational heritage, championing its creative economy through enduring partnerships, and sharing its culture with the widest possible networks at home and across the world, the officials said.
