Government Museum

Government Museum

The Government Museum at Chennai is situated at bustling area of Egmore in Chennai. It is considered to be one of the foremost museums in India and has a unique collection of Amaravati sculptures and Bronzes, apart from ancient artifacts and archeological remains of the Chola, Vijayanagar, Hoysala and Chalukya dynasties. The Government Museum of Chennai is one of the best museums of India and the prime attraction of tourism, next to the popular temples and monuments. The Chennai's Government Museum is divided into many sections.

 Geology

 Archeology

 Zoology

 Anthropology

 Numismatics

 Botany

 Sculpture

Art collections

The Chennai Museum has a good collection of paintings and sculptures, both traditional and modern. The traditional paintings of Tanjore, Rajput, Moghul, Kangra, Deccani schools and modern paintings in Oil, Tempera, Water Colour, Graphics and Acrylic mediums. Graphics and modern style metal sculptures are also in the collections. Tanjore paintings depict the figures of Tanjore Maratha Kings and Queens and Puranic (mythological) scenes from Tamil Literature. Rajput paintings belong to 16th and 17th centuries AD.

Anthropology

The Madras Government Museum began as a Museum of Geology in 1851 AD. Its scope was soon extended to cover other fields such as Archaeology, Ethnology, Pre-history and Natural History. In 1878 AD, Surgeon General Dr.E.George Bidie, the then Superintendent of the Museum, made Ethnology as one of the subjects to be illustrated by Museum collections The Chennai Museum has a collection of one thousand and two hundred objects including metal sculptures, paintings such as oil on canvas, tempera, water colour, textiles etc. Paintings of famous artists in India from various Art Schools are represented in the collection. The traditional paintings consist of Rajput, Moghul, Kangra, Tanjore, Deccan and South Indian School of Art. Bidriwaree, Metalware, Ivory and Sandalwood objects are also in the collection. The modern paintings consist of works of well-known artists namely Raja Ravi Varma, D.P. Roy Chowdhury, Nandalal Bose, Jaimini Roy and artists from Tamil Nadu. The Government Museum, Chennai has a very rich collection of the ancient, medieval and modern Indian coins made of gold, silver, copper, lead, potin and billon. Besides these there is a representative collection of foreign currency.