Caption: Corinna Ybarra Arnold, Acting Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate-General, Chennai, seen with ORI Director Vid. Shivakumaraswamy in city on Wednesday.

Mysore, June 15- Oriental Research Institute (ORI) Director Vid. Shivakumaraswamy has said that the ongoing repair works at the Institute would be completed by August. It may be mentioned, the US Consulate-General, Chennai, had provided a grant of $ 50,000 in January this year for the conservation of the heritage building that houses palm leaf manuscripts.

Corinna Ybarra Arnold, Acting Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate-General, Chennai, who was in city on Wednesday, paid a visit to the ORI to apprise herself of the work in progress and to gather additional information about the institute.

According to ORI Director, the focus of present exercise is to ensure that the leaking roof of the heritage structure is repaired so that manuscripts are not damaged. Nearly 70,000 palm leaf manuscripts are housed here.

Apart from repairing the roof, the glass works of the structure would be replaced and minor repairs carried out, he added.

As it was a heritage structure neither the façade nor the profile of the building would be altered, he said.

The ORI was constructed in 1887 to mark the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne and was converted into a library in 1891.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / Friday, June 15th, 2012