Smritivan Earthquake Memorial Museum

Smritivan (can be translated as Forest of Memories), adorned as the largest memorial and museum to ever be built in modern India, covers a vast area over 470 acres. It is situated on the Bhujiyo Dungar (a small hill) in the outskirts of Bhuj. It also shares the area with the Bhujia fort, which is more than 300 years old. Created for the bereaved families of the earthquake victims from 2001, Smritivan is a place of pilgrimage, a praise for the resilience and reverence of the people of Kutch, and a haven for those who find solace in nature. The memorial consists of a Sun-Point that overlooks the city, the sunrises and the sunsets from atop the Bhujiyo Dungar The memorial also consists of the world’s largest Miyawaki Forest with over 3 lakh plants, spread across the entire memorial to create a living, breathing monument that also serves as the lungs for the city of Bhuj. There’s a locally installed 1.1 Megawatt solar power plant that powers the museum, and memorial. The objective of this solar power plant is to have a self-sustainable, renewable green energy that leads the way for all future establishments. The Smritivan Earthquake Memorial has 50 check-dam reservoirs that house the name plates of almost 13,000 victims of the 2001 earthquake. Along with this, the reservoirs are carefully planned to recharge the surrounding water levels, giving life to the surrounding forests, and the rocks used in these reservoirs will serve as foundations for new life to grow from within their cracks. Each element of the museum focuses on regeneration, sustainability, and hope for a better future. With the opening of the museum, the innocent lives lost more than two decades ago will now be immortalised and commemorated for posterity - in an ecologically sustainable, historically profound, and sensorially enriching manner for the individual and collective cultural enhancement of the future generations.