MAP Bengaluru expands, new sculpture park planned in India's Blue Mountains

The Art & Photography Foundation has announced an expansion of the Museum of Art & Photography (MAP) in Bengaluru and a new 240-acre sculpture park in the Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu. Designed by architect Rahul Mehrotra, the expansion will add galleries, a conservation lab, children's spaces, and a makers' space on an adjacent site in central Bengaluru. The sculpture park, masterplanned by Opolis Architects under Mehrotra, will be located in the tea-growing region of Coonoor within India's first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Since opening its permanent home in 2023, MAP has welcomed over 300,000 visitors, most under 35 and first-time museumgoers, and stewards a collection of more than 60,000 objects spanning a millennium of South Asian visual culture. The Foundation also highlighted the growth of Impart, its free digital learning platform launched in April 2026, which reaches over one million visitors annually with more than 2,500 entries covering Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Trustee Abhishek Poddar described Bengaluru as 'India's Silicon Valley' and emphasized the Foundation's bold approach to engaging new audiences.