Victoria Jubilee Museum building, Vijayawada - 130 years old colonial legacy

Navrang India October 31, 2017
Victoria Jubilee Museum, Vijayawada. amaravativoice.com

When the British left the shores of India in August 1947 for good, they had left behind countless monuments  across the country. The elderly people, when looking at some of the old British structures, are still nostalgic about the past colonial era and how hard the nationalists fought against the oppressive British rule to free India from explotation and degradation. There is no state in India that does not have the imprint of the British rule.  Court, educational, administrative buildings, etc., war memorials, memorial gates, cantonments, the railways, churches and the list goes  ad infinitum - never fail to remind us about our past eventful history.

Victoria Jubilee Museum, now renamed Babu Museum (in memory of well-known cartoonist, 
author and music director Bapu) on the M.G.Road of Vijayawada, is a historical colonial building. 
 
Queen Victoria. Royal Central
Built in an  Indo-European style of architecture, it is about 130 years old, still going strong. This building came up here as part of celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. Robert Sewell, District Collector of Krishna district, on 27 June 1887 laid the foundation for the building.  An interesting fact is this colonial building has some links with our freedom fighters who worked hard to let it go the vice-like grip the British had on India. In 1921, at the same location Sri Pingali Venkayya presented a tri-colour flag with Chakra or spinning wheel as party symbol to Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhiji presided over the Congress part meeting held here.

Victoria Jubilee Museum, Vijayawada.IndianHoliday
 
Victoria Jubilee Museum, Vijayawada. amaravativoice.com/
 Since 1962, the museum has been functioning here  under the management of the ASI. Earlier, it was under district administrationc / Zilla Parishad. Despite the passage of time - 55 years since its inception - the museum still attracts lots of people because of its unique and rare exhibits and as the days go by,  its fame is on the increase. The museum  houses  rare collections of artifacts, sculptures, paintings, Hindu, Buddha relics, etc. A standing Buddha of white limestone of Alluru (3rd–4th century) is a rare piece worth noting.  Some of these exhibits belong  to 2nd and 3rd centuries. Earlier the building housed industrial exhibition. The museum has interesting exhibits in the historical galleries. Swords, body armor, shields arms, stone inscriptions coins, jewelry used by the rulers take us back to the by-gone era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bapu_Museum,_Vijayawada