The Indian Museum will adorn a born-again look on February 2, the day it turns 200, with a brand new cafeteria, gallery and toilet block, along with a modernized ticket counter and souvenir corner. Historian Romila Thapar will deliver the annual Nathaniel Wallich lecture in the evening. The museum, currently being renovated, will throw open its doors for the public on February 4.

The year-long celebrations include various research programmes, gallery development and thrust areas like social inclusion, intangible heritage and study on visitor patterns. "We have carried out repair, restoration and renovation of eight select galleries. We have one new gallery. The remaining 17 galleries will be modernized as well," said museum director B Venugopal.

Special protection group (SPG) personnel are finalizing security arrangements, with a meeting held with various state and central government agencies, according to sources. A commemorative stamp as well as a monograph on the museum will be inaugurated on the occasion. A plaque will be unveiled to mark the occasion.

All national and ASI museums are set to be connected digitally in the form a one-stop database in the next couple of years. The plan was floated by the Vivekananda Memorial Programme for Museum Excellence and the Art Institute of Chicago and the Union ministry of culture agreed to devise it.