Photo: Heritage Transport Museum, Gurgaon; Credit: We are Gurgaon.
India has one of the world’s largest collections of songs, music, dance, theatre, folk traditions, performing arts, rites and rituals, paintings and writings. On the other hand, Indian innovation in science, technology and mathematics has dramatically shaped the world we live in today. The glorious ancient history of India with its rich cultural heritage and traditions has been immortalized in various museums across the country.
Here we are sharing some shortlisted museums of our country which narrate stories of India’s Traditions, Culture, Heritage & Achievements through extraordinary selection of exhibits.
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1. Indian Music Experience Museum, Bengaluru
Spread across 50000 sq feet, 3 floors, and 9 exhibit galleries, IME is India’s first interactive music museum. India is a vast country and its diversity in the form of art and culture depicts the love and respect for it. Music in India is as old as anyone can remember it. With a deep R & D of nearly 10 years, IME was constructed with a vision to introduce the youth to the diversity of Indian Music and to preserve India’s rich musical heritage. Indian Music Experience Museum is an experience of its kind. The 9 exhibit galleries illustrate various styles of music ranging from traditional to folk, pop, Bollywood, and contemporary.
Check out for more details here India’s First Interactive Music Museum (indianmusicexperience.org)
Photo: Exhibits of Indian Music Experience Museum, Photo Credit: Indian Music Experience (IME) Museum
2. RBI Monetary Museum, Mumbai
Money is an intrinsic component of the cultural heritage of a country mirroring its socio-economic history. India was one of the earliest issuers of coinage in the world and has been home to many-a-monetary experiment recorded in history. The Reserve Bank of India has made an effort to preserve the monetary heritage of our country in the Monetary Museum. The interactive exhibits that range from coins and paper money to e-money allow visitors to view and understand the evolution of currency in the country over millennia. The Museum has a representative collection of over 10000 exhibits of the representative coinage of India, paper currency, gold bars as well as financial instruments and curiosities down the ages.
Check out more details at Reserve Bank of India – Museum (rbi.org.in)
Photo: RBI Monetary Museum, Mumbai, Photo Credit: Forbes India
3. VECHAAR Utensils Museum, Ahmedabad
This is the only museum in the world that has such a rich repository of daily use utensils from different eras. It was aimed at bringing the gaze towards the inventive and fascinating utensils used in rural and urban homes of India. The museum was created to let travelers take a peek into the rich heritage through vessels. This has led to the preservation of an integral part of Indian cooking, including fire kilns.
For more details check out at Museum : Veechar Cultural and Heritage Museum for Utensils – Vishalla Restaurant
Photo: VECHAAR Utensils Museum, Ahmedabad, Photo Credit: Ahmedabad Tourism
4. National Rail Museum, New Delhi
The National Rail Museum, New Delhi represents the splendid more than 166 years of rich heritage of Indian Railway sprawling in over 11 acres of land. Emulating the setting of a railway yard, the extensive outdoor gallery houses a variety of steam, diesel and electric locomotives along with fascinating collection of royal saloons, wagons, carriages, armored trains, rail cars and a turntable.
For more details check out National Rail Museum | Book Ticket (nrmindia.org)
Photo: National Rail Museum, New Delhi, Photo Credit: India Today
5. National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, New Delhi
The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, popularly known as the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, celebrates the rich, diverse, and practising craft traditions of India. At present the Museum collection consists of over 33,000 specimens in various crafts, acquired over a period of 60 years collected from various states of India. The collection reflects the continuing traditions of handicrafts and handlooms. Museum collection consists of a variety of traditional artifacts such as Textiles, a vast range of metal lamps, sculptures, utensils etc, Wood-works, Folk/tribal paintings , range of cane and bamboo crafts, clay and terracotta figures and a lot more.
For more details check out here National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy
Photo: Textile Gallery of National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, New Delhi, Photo Credit: Wikipedia
6. Heritage Transport Museum, Gurgaon
The museum showcases the evolution of transportation in India and sets a benchmark in interpretation, exhibition and in communication. Vintage and classic cars, railway, aviation, and two-wheeler displays dating back to when it all started, coupled with details of evolution of the automotive industry, Heritage Transport Museum is every automotive buff’s paradise.
For more details check out Heritage Transport Museum Manesar Gurgaon – A collection of objects related to transportation in India!
Photo: Automobile Gallery of Heritage Transport Museum, Photo Credit: Heritage Transport Museum
7. Indian War Memorial Museum, Delhi
The Indian War Memorial museum is located inside the Red Fort in Delhi. The museum gives you an account of the military history of India during World War I and II. Additionally, there are some details of the battle of Panipat that was fought in 1526. On display are traditional items such as daggers, gupti, arms and helmets. If you want to learn about how India’s weapons have evolved over the years, there’s no better place to go than this.
For more details check out here at National War Memorial (Rashtriya Samar Smarak)
Photo: Weapons displayed in the Indian War Memorial Museum, Delhi, Photo Credit: Wikipedia
8. B.M. Birla Science Museum – Space Science Museum, Hyderabad
The Space Museum was developed in close collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the B M Birla Science Centre. This museum exhibits scale models of Indian Launch vehicles GSLV Mark III, GSLV Mark II and PSLV, Chandrayaan-1, Mars Orbiter spacecraft, APPLE, Aryabhata, Bhaskara, Rohini RS-1 and a model of the International Space Station (ISS). Spread over 9000 square feet, the Space Museum houses various models of the space crafts, satellites and rockets right up to the Mangalyaan. The models of the large GSLV Rocket and the International Space Station are a special attraction. The museum explains in finer details the space exploration and the efforts of India in mastering the space technology. Each model of the satellites and the rockets is displayed with visitor friendly information about the mission and the outcomes.
For more details check out here Space Museum – Birla Science Centre (gpbaasri.org)
Photo: India’s first space museum in Hyderabad, Photo Credit: The Hindu Business Line
9. The Indian Museum, Kolkata
The Indian Museum is the largest and oldest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings. It has six sections comprising thirty five galleries of cultural and scientific artefacts namely Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Economic Botany. The Indian Museum has in its annals two pieces of bones and a crystal casket that once stored a tooth of the Buddha.
For more details check out here Home | Indian Museum Kolkata
Photo: Bronze Gallery of The Indian Museum, Kolkata, Photo Credit: The Indian Museum
10. Gandhi Ashram Museum of Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad
The museum houses eight life-sized colour oil- paintings and an exhibition on Gandhiji’s life ‘My life is My Message’ and ‘Gandhiji in Ahmedabad’. An archive has also been set up. It stores 34,066 letters by Gandhiji, manuscripts of his 8,633 articles, negatives of 6,367 photographs, 134 reels of microfilm of his writings, 210 films on Gandhiji and the freedom struggle. The library has over 30,000 books, 155 letters of felicitation received by Gandhiji, besides a miscellaneous memorabilia comprising of coins, postal stamps and the like. The museum measuring 24,000 sq. feet in area has besides 54 blocks of 20′ x 20′ each, a conference hall and an auditorium for watching films and video.
For more details check out here Sabarmati Ashram Museum (gandhiashramsabarmati.org)
Photo: Gandhi Ashram Museum of Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad, Photo Credit: Gujrat Tourism
11. National Museum, New Delhi
The Museum has a vast collection of Indian bronzes, terracotta (2700 BC) and wood sculptures dating back to the Mauryan period (2nd-3rd century BC), various exhibits from the Vijayanagar period in south India, Mughal period, Indus Valley civilization, Greek influenced Gandhara period and Gupta period. Miniatures and mural paintings, costumes, arts and artefacts of various tribal people and precious jewellery heavily decorated with huge emeralds, diamonds and pearls from 2500 BC, famous bronze dancing statue from Mohenjodaro, wonderful collection of weapons, musical instruments, central Buddhist antiques and the autographed memories of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir are the eye-catchers at this museum. The rich and varied collection is spread over three spacious floors and at least one full day is required to see all the objects on display.
For more details check out here National Museum, New Delhi (nationalmuseumindia.gov.in)
Photo: Harappan Gallery in National Museum, New Delhi; Photo Credit: Wikipedia
