Not a museum: This is sculpture land

haveri: a ``sculpture land'' or field-level museum - the first in india - will come up at gotagodi in dhundasi revenue limits (shiggaon taluk). the work - expected to be completed in 2005 - will begin in january next year. it would comprise creating a 6,500-foot wall around gotagudi hill and installing the tallest ``cluster sculpture'' (samooha shilpa) in the sculpture land.a rock garden on an eight-acre area in chandigarh is the largest such structure at present. it has emerged out of ideas of a single artiste. in shiggaon, ideas of several artistes of karnataka would culminate in different sculptures to be erected on a 58-acre land in the district. t.b. solabakkanavar, a teacher of fine arts college in davanagere who worked for 20 years, heads the project. he is the headquarters assistant in the office of deputy commissioner c.m. noormansoor, the catalyst for these activities. the project is expected to cost rs 10 crore. many businessman and elected representatives of the state have agreed to contribute their mite. the state tourism department will construct an inspection bungalow and a hotel in gotagodi at a cost of rs 40 lakh, said assistant director k.s. shivalingappa. the land army department will take up this work. then deputy commissioner t. muktamba informed the centre about the project and said the authorities had promised to release sufficient grants after looking into the proposal. deputy commissioner k. janardhan rao had talks with officials of forest and tourism department and the zilla panchayat and decided to submit the blueprint of the project to the centre and the state government through the kannada and culture department. the sculpture land on national highway 7 will be an unique hill station. the garden would have 10 art abbeys in the hilly location of the district. the lake nearby would also be developed as a tourist spot. fifteen famous artistes of karnataka have agreed to stay there and work free of cost to prepare sculptures. they would bring the art in a `concatenate' manner on a 6,500-foot wall. sculptors will stay for months and give final touches to the design, says noormansoor. nature lovers eagerly await the project to take off as it would add to the beauty of haveri, which has over 100 famous monuments of archaeological importance.