Kolkata, Feb 18 (PTI): The moon has descended on the lawns of Victoria Memorial, much to the delight of the city people who were seen thronging the northern gate of the iconic structure to view the spectacle. A touring artwork, the 3-D installation of the moon has been made using imagery from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, one of the exhibition organizers said.

The 'Museum of the Moon' is a project of the British Council, supported by the Ministry of Culture. It has been put on display at the Victoria Memorial Hall in the city for the weekend visitors, Debanjan Chakrabarti, the director of British Council East, told PTI.

The artwork, created in partnership with the UK Space Agency, was unveiled yesterday in the presence of the director of British Council, India, Alan Gemmell, the secretary and curator of Victoria Memorial, Jayanta Sengupta, and the director of MP Birla Planetarium, Debiprasad Duari.

The 23-feet-wide replica of the moon is half a million times smaller than the real moon. It has been put together by British artist Luke Jerram, Chakraborty said. "This is an important project for British Council, it merges science with art," he said. The artwork will foster interest in astronomy among the youngsters, the director of MP Birla Planetarium said.

"It is also interesting that the 'Museum of the Moon' project came to Kolkata 17 days after the total lunar eclipse," Duari added. Avantika Shah, a Class 10 student in a city school, was among the hundreds who gathered at Victoria Memorial lawns yesterday to watch the giant installation. "The surface images of the moon look so lifelike. I will opt for space research in future," she said. The 'Museum of the Moon' project has earlier toured Bengaluru, Mumbai and Udaipur.