Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy State Museum

Institutional History:

Archaeologist Henry Cousens was the first person to excavate sites in the territory of Hyderabad in the nineteenth century, under the supervision of the nizam of Hyderabad. In the 1920s, the excavated items were placed in a museum built on an ancient site by Mir Osman Ali Khan. The museum was formally inaugurated in 1931. The nizam contributed his personal collection of art objects for display along with all the antiquities recovered from his dominion. The Hyderabad Museum was subsequently renamed the State Museum under the Department of Heritage, Telangana.

(Reference: https://heritage.telangana.gov.in/museums/state-museum-hyderabad/)

Collection:

The museum showcases Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sculptures and bronzes, decorative art objects and paintings (copies of Ajanta, Chughtai, miniature and modern artworks). The museum includes a number of impressive exhibits—an Egyptian mummy, Buddhist and Jain relics, the Buddhist Gallery, coins from the Satavahana period, the Brahmanical and Jain Gallery, the Arms and Armour Gallery, the Numismatics Gallery, the Ajanta Gallery, bronze figures from the Vijayanagara and Chola periods, Roman-era coins, etc.—and offers a visually delightful experience for visitors.

The collection is spread across two floors of the heritage building, two floors of semi-circular galleries, a separate contemporary-art pavilion building and an annexe building located behind the main museum. The Sculpture Garden Gallery displays 93 sculptures and architectural items dating from the Satavahana period (second century BC) to the post-Vijayanagara period (seventeenth century AD) in different stone media. In the garden, two four-pillar mandapas belonging to the Kakatiya and Vijayanagara eras, a number of veergals (hero stones), panchalohas, iron cannons and a wooden chariot have been displayed. The museum shop and its counter are located in the entrance complex.

(Reference: https://heritage.telangana.gov.in/museums/state-museum-hyderabad/)

Specific artefacts that one must see and why:

1. The mummified body of Princess Naishu. Only five other museums in India—located in Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Baroda and Lucknow—possess and exhibit an Egyptian mummy. Thus, this is a rare sight to see. (https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/a-mummy-gets-a-new-life-sans-oxygen/article19280932.ece)
2. Relics of Buddha unearthed in Bavikonda, in Visakhapatnam. The Bavikonda relics are considered unique and religiously significant, unlike the corporal remains of the Buddha recovered at 17 other relic sites (out of 155 Buddhist centres in the state, including Amaravathi, Bhattiprolu and Nagarjunakonda). It was the first time in the history of excavations in the state that archaeologists stumbled upon five caskets at a single site. (Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/31/stories/2005123118050500.htm)
3. The Quran Sharifs, calligraphed under Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh, in the Islamic Arts Gallery. They provide a window into the Islamic art of Urdu calligraphy, which is rarely displayed in museums.

Notable donors to the museum include Mir Osman Ali Khan, who donated his personal artefacts and the Egyptian mummy.