Places to visit Near Napier Museum

Image Credits : Arun Oorath, Creative Commons Attribution Licence

One of the earliest Museum in India established by the Maharaja of Travancore in 1855. Only a very few Museums like the Indian Museum Calcutta, Madras Government Museum are its contemporaries. In 1874, the old Museum Building was pulled down and the foundation for the new building named after Lord Napier, the Governor of Madras residency, was laid. The Architectural masterpiece was designed by Mr.Chisholm, the consulting Architect of the Madras Government and the construction was completed in 1880. This 128 year old structure is a landmark in the city with its unique ornamentation and architectural style with gothic roof and minarets. It offers an array of display of artistic, cultural and antique importance comprising of sculptures in bronze and stone, carvings of wood and ivory, lamps, textiles, Kathakali models, handicraft items, Kuftgari works, traditional musical instruments, a treasure of numismatic collections representing Chera, Chola, Pandya dynasties of Southern India etc. The bronze display include fascinating images of Siva, Vishnu, Parvathi and Lakshmi in ‘Silpa Sastras’. The metal images illustrate the features of South Indian sculpture style of 8th to 18th Century.

The Vishnu image of 8th Century collected from Ambalapuzha temple in central Travancore which has Pallava style is the oldest metal image in the State. The stone sculptures belong to 8th to 18th Century such as Agasthya, Vishnu etc. manifest Dravidian influence. Shiva with Sati is a unique and the rarest exhibit found in the Museum. All the wood carvings exhibited here shows high degree of excellence. Each and every exhibit has a wonderful and fascinating tale twined around it.

Town:: Nearest Bus Station : Thiruvananthapuram central bus station
Airport:: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport, about 6 kms from the city
Railway Station:: Nearest Railway Station: Thiruvananthapuram central, about 2 kms from the city
District:: Thiruvananthapuram
Longitude:: 8.508949
Latitude:: 76.955857