Tourism > India > Tamil Nadu >Tamil Nadu Museums

Tamil Nadu Museums

Museums of Tamil NaduFort St. George Museum, Chennai

Fort St. George Museum at Chennai houses a collection of portraits and paintings of former governors of Chennai and the English royalty. Other objects that are displayed at the museum are coins, weapons, porcelain, the communion vessels of the church etc.

Government State Museum Chennai

The Government museum at Chennai has a collection of Amarvati sculptures and the Bronze Gallery, besides other artifacts and articles. The collection of Amaravati sculptors at the museum includes panels, carved railings, pillars and Buddha statues of white marble from a Buddhist stupa excavated at Amaravati. The bronze gallery has bronze sculptures belonging to the later Pallavas, Cholas, Hoyasalas and Chalukya periods.

Thanjavur Art Gallery, Tanjore

The present day Thanjavur art gallery was once the palace of the Nayaks of Thanjavur and the viceroys of the Vijayanagara rulers. Built in 1600, it is a wonderful and magnificent piece of architecture. The huge compound encompasses a complex, which includes the Saraswati Library and the Sangeetha Sabha or Music Hall along with the art gallery. The most important attraction at the Thanjavur art gallery is the sculpture section where south Indian stone sculptures belonging to the Pallava and the Nayaka period are exhibited.

Madurai Government Museum

The Government Museum at Madurai is yet another repository of cultural heritage of the state and the adjoining regions. The Museum has different sections on anthropology, archaeology, zoology, numismatology, geology and botany. The Museum also has a fine collection of bronze artifacts.

Silappathikaram Art Gallery, Poompuhar

The Sillappathikaram Art Gallery is a beautiful building of great sculptural value. The first storey of the art gallery is 12" high and every subsequent storey above it has a height of 5'. Scenes from Sillappathikaram, the great Epic, have been projected in stones on the walls of the art Gallery. The sculptors of Mamallapuram Art College carved the sculptures at the Sillappathikaram Art Gallery.

Government Museum, Ooty

The government museum at Ooty has a diverse collection of tribal objects, Ooty's ecological details and numerous sculptural arts and crafts of Tamil Nadu. This museum was set up in 1989, with the aim of providing information to the local and visiting population of the region.