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| Govt. Museum, Bengaluru, KA bangalore247.in |
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| .Government museum, Bengaluru, interior. pia-m.com/blog/2 |
It was on 18 August 1865, the Government Museum in Bangalore was established (part of Cubbon park complex) during the tenure of L.B. Bowring as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore State. Credit goes to a medical officer of the Madras Army Edward G. Balfour, who had just been transferred to Bangalore and who took efforts to have a museum established. It is the second oldest museum in South India. Annually more than 100000 people visit the museum. In August 2021, it completed 156 years.
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| Government museum,interior Bengaluru,.anlassociates.com |
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| façade Government museum, Bengaluru,.anlassociates.com |
Regarding proposed museum a formal official Gazette notification was issued in the Mysore Government on 17 April 1866. The Karnataka State Archives in Bangalore has a copy of the notification inviting citizens to contribute cultural and natural artifacts to the museum for display.
Balfour had previously established a museum in Madras in 1851 with good collection of artifacts, etc. and organized good collection of artifacts comprising zoological and natural specimens The building in Bangalore was opened in 1877 on what was then known as Sydney road (now it is renamed as Kasturba road). An interesting historical fact is the museum was functioning in a Cantonment's jail building for 13 long years till 1878.
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| architect Sankey, en.wikipedia.org |
Because the building was a misfit for museum and organization of various galleries' for display of exhibits, a decision was made to build a new building to house the museum and to accommodate future expansion. Col. Richard Hieram Sanke (22 March 1829 Р11 November 1908; native of Tipperarey County, Ireland), the Chief Engineer of Mysore State at that time was the architect and he designed the red-colored stone building in 1877 in neoclassical architectural style with two porticos on either side, Corinthian columns, circular arches, sloping eaves and prominent sloping parapet walls in the fa̤ade in particular. It is close to Visvesvaraya Industrial And Technological Museum and the Venkatappa Art gallery. Richard Sankey also designed the famous Andrews church (1864), Mayo Hall (1870) and Sankey tank to meet the city's water requirements. The exterior of the building was renovated and the interior portions needed further attention, particularly lightings. .
The museum with two floors have exhibition halls and 18 galleries that cover a variety of fields sculpture, natural history, geology, art, music and numismatics. There are more than 120 antiques of deities of different periods. Also on display are a multitude of old jewelry items, sculptures from the Hoysala, Gandhara and Nolamba periods, paintings including rare paintings of Deccan, Mysore and Tanjore kingdoms artifacts, art, pottery, coins from various periods of history from Mohenjodaro, Halebid and Vijayanagar and the Chandravalli period, and battle weapons from Kodagu (Karnataka). There are many items from Tipu's regime. The most valuable exhibits are the earliest Kannada inscription in stone - the Halmidi inscription (450 C.E.) Begur inscription (890 C.E.), Atakur inscription (949 C.E.). The ground floor houses mostly archeological artefacts, many of them from Hampi,
The museum is being managed by the Karnataka State Archaeology Department under the purview of the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. and this one can be marked out among the 16 museums being under the ASI. The Bangalore Government Museum situated on the campus of Cubbon Park is just 5 km from the Majestic bus stand and 36 km from Bengaluru airport. it can be accessed by the Bengaluru Metro (Cubbon Park metro station is the nearest), bus, or taxi.
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