Puducherry Museum, Puducherry
The Puducherry Museum or Pondicherry Museum is an excellent tourism option in Puducherry for history and culture buffs. This museum in Puducherry is housed in the ancient Law Building on Saint Louis Street and houses a diverse collection of rare and exquisite stone and bronze sculptures dating back to the Chola and Pallava eras. In addition, the Puducherry Museum includes artefacts excavated from the old port of Arikamedu on exhibit. A fossilised tree trunk and several stone sculptures may be found in the museum's entrance hall and patio. One of the primary attractions of this immaculately maintained museum is a section on the ground floor. This section contains a collection of exquisitely crafted bronze statues, finely carved stone sculptures and a few paintings.
The highlight of this museum in Puducherry is certainly the collection of exquisite bronzes belonging to the Chola era. There are 18 original pieces along with a replica of the Dancing Shiva which was part of an image sent as a gift to the king of Siam in 1684. The pieces on display represent Hindu deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and Krishna. Poetic epigraphs inscribed on some of these sculptures add an air of mystery to this artefact collection. Bronze vessels and bronzes from the Chola period were not made for decorative purposes but had a deeper religious significance. The bronzes in the museum collection were actually used for holding offerings or food and not for worship purposes.
Timings
Puducherry Museum open at 09:00 AM to 6:30 PM. (Closed on Mondays and National holidays)
Entry Fees
10 INR per Indian Visitors; 50 INR per Foreign Visitors and 5 INR per Child.
Accessibility
The Museum is about 3 kilometers away from Puducherry bus stand.