Museum sights in India
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City Palace Museum
The City Palace museum includes the Mor Chowk, with its lavish mosaics of peacocks, the favourite Rajasthani bird. The Manak (Ruby) Mahal has glass and mirrorwork, while Krishna Vilas has a remarkable collection of miniatures (no photography allowed). In the Bari Mahal there is a pleasant central garden. The Moti Mahal has beautiful mirrorwork and the Chini Mahal is covered in ornamental tiles.
More wall paintings can be seen in the Zenana Mahal. There's a large tiger-catching cage near the Zenana Mahal entrance.
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Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya
A kind of tribal safari park, only without the tribes, the open-air, hillside complex Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya is possibly your best chance to get a taste of India’s 450-plus tribes without actually visiting an Adivasi village. Authentic-looking dwellings – built and maintained by Adivasis using traditional tools and materials – dot the hillside. There’s a mythological trail and a more conventional museum on the hilltop.
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Tibet Museum
Just inside the main entry gate of the Tsuglagkhang Complex is the Tibet Museum, telling the tragic story of the Chinese occupation and the subsequent Tibetan exodus through photographs, interviews and video clips. A visit here is a must for anyone staying in McLeod Ganj.
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Namgyal Institute of Tibetology
Housed in traditionally styled Tibetan architecture, this unique institute was established in 1958 to promote research into Mahayana Buddhism and Tibetan culture. It contains one of the world’s largest collections of Buddhist books and manuscripts, plus statuettes, thangkas (Tibetan cloth paintings) and sacred objects, such as a kapali (sacred bowl made from a human skull) and human thighbone trumpets. There are plenty of useful explanatory captions.
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Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum
This fascinating museum is one of Pune’s true delights. Housing only a fraction of the 21,000-odd objects of daily life collected by Dinkar Gangadhar, who died in 1990, it’s worth an entire day out. The quirky collection includes a suit of armour made of fish scales and crocodile skin, hundreds of hookah pipes, writing instruments, lamps, toys, betel-nut cutters and an amazing gallery of musical instruments.
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Lakshmi Narayan Temple
Lakshmi Narayan Temple has a series of marble panels illustrating the central tenets of the Bhagavad Gita and views across the lakes to the minaret-dotted old city. An adjacent museum contains a small collection of local sculptures dating back to the 6th century. For those who don't make it to Bhimbetka, there's a reconstruction of one of the rock shelters.
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Bharat Bhavan
This cultural centre is a serene place to take in modern Indian art, tribal carvings and paintings, a library and private contemporary art galleries. There is a cafe, and regular evening performances (7pm) of poetry, music and theatre.
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Museum of Tribal Arts & Artefacts
For anyone considering a visit to the tribal areas, this museum, off National Hwy 5 (NH5), is recommended. Dress, ornaments, weapons, household implements and musical instruments are displayed.
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Government Museum
Housed across several British-built buildings known as the Pantheon Complex, this excellent museum is Chennai’s best.
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National Gandhi Museum
The National Gandhi Museum contains photos and some of Gandhi’s belongings.
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Museum
Hidden away within the City Palace is an excellent government museum . Its eclectic exhibits evoke the extravagance of the maharajas' lifestyle: stunning weapons, stuffed Scottish pheasants, royal ivory slippers, erotic miniatures, royal vestments, a solid silver table, and stone sculptures, such as an 11th-century sculpture of Vishnu. There are also some striking 'widescreen' paintings of Imperial processions.
Somewhat difficult to find in the Kafkaesque tangle of government offices, it's on the top floor of the palace, up a ramp from the main courtyard. However, there are plenty of people around to point you in the right direction and from there you can follow the…
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Archaeological Museum
Part of the Franciscan monastery at the back of the Church of St Francis of Assisi is now an Archaeological Museum, housing some lovely fragments of sculpture from Hindu temple sites in Goa, and some Sati stones, which once marked the spot where a Hindu widow committed suicide by flinging herself onto her husband’s funeral pyre. Also here you’ll find two large bronze statues: one of the Portuguese poet Luís Vaz de Camões, which once stood more prominently in the central grassy area of Old Goa, and one of Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese conqueror and first governor of Goa, which stood in the Azad Maidan in Panaji, before being moved here after Independence.
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Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum
The former residence of Indira Gandhi is now a fascinating museum, displaying artefacts, photos and newspaper clippings, as well as personal belongings, including the blood-stained sari she was wearing when she was assassinated in 1984. Some of the rooms are preserved as they were, an interesting window into the understated elegance of her life. Another section is devoted to her son Rajiv, also assassinated in 1991 by a suicide bomber. Fragments of the clothes he was wearing and, even more poignantly, his trainers, are on display. On the way out, you’ll pass an enclosed crystal pathway that marks Gandhi’s final footsteps before her murder.
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Museum Ship Vikrant
Built in 1945 and bought by the Indian Navy in 1957, the massive aircraft carrier INS Vikrant now serves as a fascinating museum. Admission includes the ferry ride out to the ship, then a walk through the various quarters, the hold (displaying diving bells, submarines and various aircraft) and finally the enormous deck with take-off and landing strip.
The Vikrant served in the India-Pakistan War of 1971, and in the liberation of Goa from the Portuguese, providing a sea base for Harrier jump jets, Seahawks and helicopters, some of which are still on board.
Tickets are available from the booking offices near the Gateway.
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Mani Bhavan
As poignant as it is tiny, this museum is in the building where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during visits to Bombay from 1917 to 1934. The museum showcases the room where the leader formulated his philosophy of satyagraha (nonviolent protest popularised by Gandhi) and launched the 1932 Civil Disobedience campaign that led to the end of British rule. Exhibitions include a photographic record of his life, along with dioramas and original documents, such as letters he wrote to Adolf Hitler and Franklin D Roosevelt. Nearby, August Kranti Maidan is where the campaign to persuade the British to ‘Quit India’ was launched in 1942.
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Patna Museum
Behind the impressive but decaying exterior, this museum houses a splendid collection of Mauryan and Gupta stone sculptures. There’s the usual collection of period weapons, including Humayun’s dagger, and a gallery of wonderful Rajasthani miniatures. In another gallery is a motley collection of stuffed animals, including tigers, a large gharial (crocodile), a bizarre three-eared and eight-legged goat kid and an Australian wombat! Upstairs in a locked gallery an extra Rs. 500 permits you a glimpse of a tiny casket that’s believed to contain some of Buddha’s ashes which were retrieved from Vaishali.
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Secretariat of the Tibetan Government in Exile
Inside the government compound at Gangchen Kyishong, the Library Of Tibetan Works & Archives preserves the Tibetan texts saved from the Cultural Revolution. Many of the texts have since been translated into English and other European languages, but you must become a temporary member (Rs 50 per month; passport needed for ID) to access the collection.
Upstairs is a fascinating cultural museum with statues, old Tibetan artefacts and books, and some astonishing three-dimensional mandalas in wood and sand. Also worth a visit is the Nechung Gompa, home to the Tibetan state oracle.
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Supreme Court of India Museum
Showcasing India's judicial history, this small Supreme Court of India Museum, which is accessed from Mathura Rd (opposite Appu Ghar Gate), contains two interesting galleries. One gallery has a focus on the evolution of India's justice system, which harks back to the Indus Valley civilization (3500 BC).
The second gallery is dedicated to the Federal and Supreme Courts with exhibits including an early 20th-century judge's chair, portraits of Raj-era judges and original manuscripts of landmark cases including the assassination case of Mahatma Gandhi. Photography is prohibited.
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National Museum
An overview of India’s last 5000 years, this is a splendid museum. Exhibits include rare relics from the Harappan Civilisation, Central Asian antiquities (including silk paintings from the 1st century AD), sacred Buddhist objects, jewel-bright miniature paintings, old coins (including Portuguese, Dutch and Danish), woodcarving, textiles, musical instruments, fearsome Mughal weaponry, Persian manuscripts, and Indus jewellery made from shells and bones. Give yourself at least a few hours – preferably a half-day – to explore this museum, one of India’s finest.
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Indian Museum
Kolkata’s old-fashioned main museum fills a glorious colonnaded palace around a central lawn. Extensive exhibits include fabulous 1000-year-old Hindu sculptures, lumpy minerals, a whole dangling whale skeleton and endless pinned insects. Gag at the pickled human embryos (gallery 19), notice the surreal Glyptodon dinosaur-armadillo (gallery 11) and don’t miss the impressive life-size reproduction of the 2nd-century BC Barhut Gateway. No bags are allowed inside. Handbags can be checked in at the entrance but don’t arrive with a backpack.
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NC Mehta Gallery
In the same building as the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum is the NC Mehta Gallery with an important collection of jewel-like illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings. Best known is Chaurapanchasika (Fifty Love Lyrics of a Thief), written by Vilhana, an 11th-century Kashmiri poet sentenced to be hanged for loving the king’s daughter. Just before his execution he composed the poems and so impressed the king that there was a lucky turn-around for Vilhana and the king gave his daughter to him in marriage.
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Rabindra Bharati Museum
Epitomising the cultural spirit of Kolkata was the brilliant poet, novelist, playwright and artist Rabindranath Tagore, who took India to the world. India's greatest modern poet and a passionate nationalist, he penned what would become the lyrics for India's national anthem.
Tagore also became Asia's first Nobel prizewinner for literature. The rambling complex of Tagore House is now a centre for Indian dance, drama and music. North of BBD Bagh, it houses an impressive museum and university for fine arts.
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Anthropological Museum
The best museum in Port Blair provides a thorough and sympathetic portrait of the islands’ indigenous tribal communities. The glass display cases may be old school, but they don’t feel anywhere near as ancient as the simple geometric patterns etched into a Jarawa chest guard, a skull left in a Sentinelese lean-to or the totemic spirits represented by Nicobarese shamanic sculptures. Pick up a pamphlet (Rs20) on indigenous culture, written by local anthropologists, in the gift shop.
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Crystal Gallery
There’s a stunning crystal gallery at the Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel, though the admission charge is rather expensive. Maharaja Sajjan Singh ordered this rare crystal from F&C Osler & Co in England in 1877; he died before it arrived, and all the items stayed packed up in boxes for 110 years. The extravagant, unused collection includes crystal chairs, sofas, tables and even beds. Photography is prohibited.
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Government Museum
Akbar built this imposing palace in 1570 – partly as a pleasure retreat, but mainly to keep a watchful eye on local rulers. It was here, on 10 January, 1616, that Sir Thomas Roe, ambassador of King James 1 of England, was given the first official audience by the Emperor Jehangir. Akbar's Palace houses the government museum, which has a small collection of stone sculptures, weapons and miniature paintings.
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