Government Museum
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Government Museum Description:- |
 Well
worth visiting, the Government Museum is on Pantheon Rd, between
Egmore and Anna Salai. The buildings originally belonged to a group of
eminent British citizens, known as the Pantheon Committee, who were
charged with improving the social life of the British in Chennai. The
main building has a fine archaeological section representing all the
major south Indian periods including Chola, Vijayanagar, Hoysala and
Chalukya. It also houses a good ethnology collection. The bronze
gallery has a superb collection of Chola art. One of the most
impressive is the bronze of Ardhanariswara, the androgynous
incarnation of Shiva.
Museum Collections
Rare collections of Buddhist sculptures from Amaravati along with
relics of the Pallava, Chola and Pandya eras can be seen here. The
finest collections of bronzes of the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva -
Nataraja, Durga, Ganesha from the Chola Empire are a pride of this
museum.
The Amaravati collection has panels, pillars, carved railings and
Buddha statues of milky white marble from a Buddhist stupa excavated
at Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. Within the complex lie an Art Gallery,
Department of Natural History, a Museum Theatre and a Public Library.
Especially impressive are the Arms gallery, its pre-historic
collection, its philatelic collection, its antique jewellery and the
musical instruments collection. |
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