How does one preserve the memory of the rich heritage of a city, fast succumbing to rapid redevelopment and construction? For the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), the answer has come in the way of ‘archiving’ Mumbai.Come 2026, the CSMVS will launch a ‘Digital Library’ on Mumbai’s built heritage, which will enable the public to walk through significant markers of the city’s urban history and dive into a variety of digital resources spanning from maps, postcards, lithographs to sculptures and oral histories for free.An idea first germinated in 2017, the digital library project was kicked off with the need to preserve Mumbai’s architectural legacy, fill in the existing gap pertaining to the city’s fragmented knowledge and foster civic engagement. “We are one city which has been reshaped again and again and that takes away from what once existed. This library seeks to act as a bulwark against the erosion of urban memory and aims to foster greater awareness towards the city’s very rich and varied built heritage,” said Prof Mustansir Dalvi, architectural historian who has been closely working to develop the library.The digital library will archive the city’s built heritage by documenting, scanning and curating a rich base of data and uploading it on a site, which will be accessible for all from academicians, historians to the layman with an enthusiasm for heritage.The engagement will unravel in a two-fold manner. In the first step, the interface will connect users directly to a heritage or iconic building of the city along with details pertaining to its history and significance. Next, the site will be linked to a repository of archival “assets” which will enable users to access original photographs, postcards, artefacts, maps, drawings, models, videos as well as other data on demand. These digital resources will be uploaded in a variety of formats akin to PDF, JPEGs, MOV files and other appropriate formats.In its pilot project, the library will curate a catalogue called ‘Mumbai in 100 Buildings’, which will look at canonical buildings and neighbours across the city, and eventually expand to include 1,000 sites. Categorised in parameters ranging from religious, civic, residential, commercial, forts amongst others, the pilot project will compile data on structures like BMC building, Town Hall, Crawford market, Kanheri, Bhikha Behram Well, Prongs Lighthouse amongst others.However, Dalvi maintains that the library is still a “work in progress”. “These are very early days and it will take some more time to come up. We are aiming to make the library live for the public by 2026,” he said.Story continues below this adWhile the pilot project seeks to document the city’s iconic buildings onto a digital library, the project will eventually delve deeper by mapping all the wards, grouping the tangible and intangibles as well as curate catalogues from time to time such as narratives on the lost buildings of Bombay.In a bid to source digital assets and implement the project — which eventually seeks to branch out across the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) — the CSMVS is eyeing to collaborate with several institutions ranging from BMC, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), University of Mumbai, National Archives of India, Maharashtra State Archives, Art Deco Mumbai, IIT Bombay, TISS, Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) amongst others.“The digital library marks the beginning of an exciting collective journey to safeguard and share this heritage with students, researchers, and the wider public. It is our way of giving back to the city that has been our home for over a century. With the support of Mumbai’s heritage community, the digital library will grow into a living archive for generations to come,” said Sabyasachi Mukherjee, director general of CSMVS.What the library seeks to do besides leveraging technology to recognise urban loss, the CSMVS team says, is also perhaps initiate dialogue to upgrade the existing heritage laws.Story continues below this adSpeaking during ‘The City As Archive’ symposium on making the city’s heritage accessible, Mariam Dossal, Professor and author on Mumbai’s urban history said the creation of a digital archive paves the way for the democratisation of knowledge on the city’s history. “The initiative recognises the significance of interlinking a range of disciplines, notably, history, architecture, engineering, geo-morphology, urban design and more, to appreciate and better understand Mumbai’s rich heritage,” she said.