Morni Fort | |
Location: | Morni, Panchkula district, Haryana, India |
Accreditation: | Haryana Government |
Key Holdings: | Flora and fauna, bird gallery & projections about environment challenges |
Architect: | By Harvansh Dua |
Parking: | Morni Fort parking |
Car Park: | Morni Fort Parking |
Morni Fort is a nature museum and learning centre[1] situated in Morni Village, about 32 km from Panchkula City in the Panchkula district in Indian state of Haryana. The 200 years old Morni fort[2] in Morni hills was transformed into a museum at a cost of over INR 1 crore.
It was inaugurated on 13 November 2017 by Rao Narbir Singh who is Forests and Public Works (Building and Roads) Minister, Haryana. The Haryana Government gave the contract to a company that runs a NGO-Prakriti.
The Morni fort has four towers. The inside of the fort was improved in 1814 during the time when the King of Sirmur came to the fort to hide after he was overthrown from Nahan by Gurkhas.[3] The fort remains cool during summers because of its well ventilated domes. The fort also has a well/reservoir.
The layout and design of the museum has been created by Harvansh Dua. It has dozens of figures of wildlife, wall murals, domes, caves and 3D artwork which took around 8 months to complete. The fort was converted to a museum by the Forests Department of Haryana in FY 2017-18. It has photographs of the fort, photographs related to environment protection and those of animals and birds which are on a verge of extinction.
"There were three rooms and four attaris (enclosures of 15x12 sq feet) to be done up. We dedicated one room to flora and fauna and the attari behind it showcases animals in their natural habitat. A washroom was converted into a tiger's den with a bird gallery alongside.The second room displays the projects undertaken by Haryana forest department to conserve forest and wildlife such as agro forestry and vulture breeding The third room gives a peep into the environment challenges such as population explosion, forest fires, degradation, acid rain and degeneration of natural habitat," said by Dua.[4]
Museum has been designed in such a way that it will attract people of all age groups but the focus is mainly on educating youth about the history of unknown places in this area.
Total duration of tour inside museum took around 1h 30 min,[5] Mon - Sun (09:00 AM to 05:00 PM)