India is a country rich in lifestyle and heritage. However, it is not always just boring stuff. Being ornamented with historical monuments, it has a majestic past of the Mughals and British that speaks of the history. From interesting science museums to illuminating historical hotspots, there are various well-known museums in India that are known for offering exclusive collections and artifacts. The extensive bouquet of knowledge that India has in its museums can beat the encyclopedias or search engines at any given time.
Here are some of the top 10 museums in India:
Shankar International Dolls Museum, New Delhi
Shankar’s International Dolls Museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. This attraction is the largest doll museum in the entire country. From being a political cartoonist to a collector of dolls, K. Shankar Pillai is the name behind this museum which has over 6000 dolls that have been collected from around 85 countries.
The museum occupies a single floor in the Children’s Book Trust Building near Ram Charan Agrawal Marg. The doll’s museum is 5,184.5 square feet in area and has its very own entrance. The museum is split into halves; the first section shows dolls from Europe, the US, Australia, and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the second section displays dolls from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Certain sections display dolls engaging in day-to-day activities and oh, there are horrifying dolls as well! Apart from the dolls which can be placed on the show, the museum has 150 forms of Indian dolls that represent the different aspects of culture, artwork forms, and heritage of the country.
Moreover, these dolls are exchanged with those that are gifted to the museum and are also put on sale for museums and collectors across the globe. Shankar’s International Dolls Museum is open on all days of the week, except Mondays. One can attain the museum through various modes of transport and from various points in the city. That’s why it is one of the top famous museums in India.
Kite Museum, Ahmedabad
Kite Museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. The museum is a part of Sanskar Kendra, which was formed in 1954 as the cultural middle of Ahmedabad. The Kite Museum gives an enticing experience, especially for children. Also known as Patang Kite Museum, the small museum is dedicated to kites and kite flyers. It holds kites from ancient times until the modern period.
The hub of kite making, this museum showcases nearly 150 types of it. Kites have always been significant in the context of India as their importance goes back to the times of independence when the kite flying tradition was pioneered. In the museum, you can actually see an excellent collection of kites and types of papers that are used to make kites.
The series of custom-made kites included in the museum are mirror work kites, 16-22 cm lengthy kites, Japanese kites, and block print kites. Exhibits in the museums are not only kites but also interesting illustrations and paintings. Photography is not allowed in the museum. The museum is open to visit all days except Mondays and Government Holidays. Moreover, it is one of the best museums in India.
Antarang Museum,Mumbai
Antarang museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It was set up under the guidance of Dr. Prakash Sarang. Set up in the midst of Kamatipura, the red-mild district of Mumbai, this museum has interesting exhibits that talk about sex.
This museum has become a unique and interesting manner to disseminate the same information. Since sex education in India is a joke, this museum was one great development in that area.
The museum has many exhibits showcasing the hows and whats of sex. This is a one-room gallery with exciting displays that offer information about sexual health. This gallery is also the only one in South East Asia dedicated to this sensitive subject.
It shows lots of intercourse positions, anatomy of the male/woman genitalia, contraceptives, and also STD viruses to enlighten people on such vital problems that are otherwise reduced to taboos by narrow-minded society. The museum does not charge an entry fee. No wonder it is named as one of the top most famous museums in India.
Folklore Museum,Kerala
Opened in the year 2009, Folklore museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It was a non-profit organization in the beginning. It is a dream project of George Thaliath and his spouse Annie George. The entrance door of the museum is embellished with a putting manichitratazhu- an ancient ornate door lock of Kerala.
The first floor of the museum is called Kalithattu, showcasing costumes of different traditional and ritual dance forms of Kerala like Theyyam, Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, and Ottanthullal. The second floor namely Lotus petal is beautified with stunning mural artwork and a well-defined wooden ceiling made from 60 frames.
Masks, puppets, ornaments, wood carvings, oil lamps, antique musical instruments, and sculptures made of wood, bronze, copper, etc., are some other attractions of the folklore museum which give an appealing look and bring several questions to visitors’ minds.
Folklore Museum also helps artists to sell their work, which is commendable. You can buy portraits, mural paintings, oil paintings, etc. It’s a great attraction in Kerala that gives to understanding and learning about God’s own country. Overall it is one of the top 10 famous museums in India.
Salar Jung Museum,Hyderabad
The Salar Jung Museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. The museum was established in 1951 in the palace of Nawab Mir Yousuf Khan, popularly known as Salar Jung III. The museum is a semicircular-shaped building with 38 galleries spread across floors. The ground floor covers 20 galleries while the first floor has 18 of them.
The museum houses a set of over 1.1 million artifacts and artwork portions all personally collected by Salar Jung III himself. It has a set of sculptures, artwork, carvings, textiles, manuscripts, ceramics, metal artifacts, carpets, clocks, and furnishings from everywhere in the world.
One of the best collections right here is the Clock Room a gallery of clocks and timekeeping devices from across the world from ancient times. The furniture collection consists of pieces from the time of King Louis XIV and Napoleon. Salar Jung III accrued about 43,000 artifacts and 50,000 books and manuscripts out of which only some are displayed in today’s museum.
The Quran Collection here is also impressive. There is a collection of about 600 coins. A few coins are 2300yrs old. Some Punch Mark cash from the Kushan dynasty also is preserved. Indian miniature paintings belonging to the Mughal, Rajasthani, Thanjavur, and Deccan schools are displayed.
One should not miss out on the antiques from the Mughal period. Aurangzeb’s daggers, Tipu Sultan’s wardrobe, Mughal sculptures, and artwork, and the art work of Raja Ravi Varma are part of the astounding collection of Salar Jung. The museum is known as one of the leading top famous museums in India.
National Museum, New Delhi
Established in 1949, the National Museum of India in New Delhi is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. The National Museum in New Delhi is one of the largest museums in India, situated on the corner of the Janpath and Maulana Azad Road.
Today, the museum boasts of possessing a whopping 200,000 artworks, each Indian and foreign, and is maintained by the Ministry of Culture, Department of India. The shows chronicle the history of India right from the days of the Mohenjodaro and Harappan civilizations to modern times.
On display are relics courting returned to the Vedic civilization, the personal effects of Gautama Buddha, arms and guns utilized by Indian kings over the centuries including an elephant’s armor, artwork, woodcarvings, textiles, musical instruments, and sculptures.
The museum also houses the National Museum Institute of the History of Arts, Conservation and Museology which was added as a different segment in 1983. Since 1989, this section runs different courses in History of Arts, Conservation and Museology for Master’s and Doctoral degrees. A tour of the museum promises to be a fantastic experience. This is likewise one of the top most famous museums in India.
National Rail Museum, New Delhi
The National Railway Museum Delhi is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It is located in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi is a great favorite with children and rail enthusiasts.
Spread over an area of about 11 acres, the museum showcases the evolution of railways in India. The Museum, also known as Delhi Rail Museum, is India’s first Transport Museum.
It has the biggest collection of trains, from miniature models to full-scale train sets. Static and working models, signaling equipment, antique furniture, historic photographs, and related literature, etc. are displayed in the museum.
Apart from a collection of steam engines and locomotive carriages, it also features unique carriages such as the former Viceregal Dining Car and the Maharaja of Mysore’s rolling salon.
The Fairy Queen locomotive is also part of the display here. The indoor display includes a great collection of antique photographs of trains from bygone times. Moreover it is one of the best museums in India.
Indian Museum,Kolkata
The Indian Museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It was established in 1814 by the Asiatic Society. At the time, Calcutta was the capital of British India and remained the seat of political and cultural development for a century. The museum is popularly called ‘Jaadu Ghar’.
It has exhibits for a few best collections of artifacts that include, armor, fossils, skeletons, antiques, ornaments, Egyptian mummies, and contemporary paintings as well as paintings from the Mughal era. No wonder, the Indian Museum is the oldest museum in Southeast Asia and the largest in the country.
The museum is divided into six sections with a complete of thirty-5 galleries. There are sculptures from the Gandhara School of Art and architectural remains from Bodhgaya too, which are displayed in separate galleries.
The coins gallery, musical instrument gallery, Mughal portray gallery, mask gallery, and Palaeo-anthropology gallery remain favorites with the visitors. It is considered as one of the top museums in India.
Government Museum, Chennai
The Government Museum of Chennai, is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It is often called the Egmore Museum due to its location in Egmore, is housed in the Pantheon Complex a beautiful colonial building.
This museum showcases one of the most impressive exhibits from south Indian history the bronze sculpture collection. This gallery has on show bronze sculptures dating back to the seventh-century Pallava times, but a number of the best portions come from the Chola empire from between the 9th and 11th centuries.
It also contains a few excellent Buddhist relics and coins from ancient south India. It has also the biggest collection of Roman antiquities outside Europe. Among them, the giant Museum Theatre is one of the most wonderful. Still it is one of the best museums in India.
Naval Aviation Museum,Goa
The Naval Aviation Museum is one of the top 10 famous museums in India. It is a navy museum placed in Bogmalo, 6 km from Vasco da Gama, Goa, India. It has a number of galleries showcasing naval equipment, important battles, a simulation room, and an extensive granite plaque that pays tribute to those brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the carrier of the country.
One of the first rooms of the Naval Aviation Museum showcases a collection of arms including bombs, rockets, warheads, torpedoes, depth charges, etc. Another room named Sonobouy Room shows a group of sonobuoys which are sensors used by Aircraft for detecting underwater enemy targets.
The museum also homes a photo gallery that commemorates all the major battles of the Indian Navy including the notable Operation Vijay. Moreover it is one of the top famous museums in India.
Conclusion
In conclusion, these are some of the top 10 famous museums in India. These museums have unique collections from thousands of years ago from across the globe. Millions of people visit these places to learn about history and amazing facts.
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