Government Museum, Pudukkottai — Attraction in Tamil Nadu

Started at Thirugokarnam in Pudukottai by the erstwhile Thondaiman rulers of the Pudukottai Samasthanam in 1910, the museum was handed over to the government after the merger of the samasthanam with the union in 1948.

A repository of prized antique items, the museum contains 18 galleries, including art and craft gallery, painting gallery, armoury gallery, anthropology, stone sculptures, and wood-carving galleries.

Paintings of Raja Ravi Varma, huge portraits of the Thondaiman rulers, and musical instruments used in the bygone era are the other prized items in the museum.

The objective of giving a facelift is to attract more visitors to the museum, say the museum authorities. A recent addition to the museum is a tall age-old granite idol of goddess Durga that was brought a few months ago to the museum from the coastal Kattumavadi village in the district.

The beautifully carved idol, which is nearly 7.5-foot tall, had developed cracks and was not used for puja by the villagers. It was brought to the museum to preserve the piece, said a museum staff. The idol has now been kept in front...

Pudukkottai Museum is situated at Thirugokarnam. It was established in 1910. It has been second largest museum in Tamilnadu, after Chennai museum. It has rich collections in sections like Archaeology, Anthropology, Numismatics, Art, Zoology, Botany, Geology and Pudukkottai Princely State. Galleries for stone sculptures, bronzes of saivaites, vaishnavaites and Buddha and metal wares. Stone sculptures, and bronzes collected from Pudukkottai district are displayed. Apart from these, stone sculptures of jains, Buddha and amaravathy are displayed. Pooja articles, copper plates are displayed in metal ware galleries. There is a whale skeleton about 70 ft. length and it is a unique for this museum. 2 pairs of whale jaws about 17 ft. and 7 ft. heights. Newly, a large sized Dinosaur model (worth ₹16 lakhs) is placed and demonstrated electrically four...

I am still at a loss for words as to how easily the government babus can waste the potential of such an amazing place. Very few people know about this place and even few visit it which is a true shame. There is a big collection of things right from a small insect all the way to a big dinosaur (statue). The entry is a paltry ten rupees. You will need to pay a hundred rupees if you are interested in taking pictures inside the museum which is not a bad deal at all. The bigger issue is that they just accept cash which is baffling considering that it will take them a couple of minutes to set up UPI which is another service backed by...