Salar Jung Museum Hyderabad

Location: Banks of the Musi River, Hyderabad.
How to reach: Easily accessible from Hyderabad with the help of local transport.
Main Attractions: artifacts from all over the world that include a musical clock, the Veiled Rebecca, rare scriptures and manuscripts.

History of SJM

This eclectic treasure of world art of over 48,000 objects has grown out of the rich and variegated collection acquired by them but more specifically by Mir Yusuf Ali Khan, popularly known as Salar Jung III (1889-1949). He served briefly as Prime Minister (from 1912-14) to Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad. He spent a considerable portion of his wealth in collecting objects of art and other curios in staggering profusion. He was indeed a consummate dilettante and a shrewd connoisseur of everything pertaining to art & antiquities, as the collection in the museum testifies.After his death, in the absence of any direct descendents, the Indian Government appointed a committee to administer the Salar Jung Estate. To perpetuate the name of Salar Jung, a private museum of that name came into being in December 1951, in the Diwan Deodi, the ancestral palace of Salar Jung III. It was declared open by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The control and supervision of the Salar Jung Estate was fully passed to the Indian Government in 1960 and for a year the Museum was administered directly by the Ministry of Scientific Research & Cultural Affairs. By an Act of Parliament, known as the Salar Jung Museum Act, 1961, the Museum with the Library were declared to be an "Institution of National Importance."The Museum then shifted to it’s present premises in July 1968, and was declared open by Dr. Zakir Hussain, the then President of India.Under the Salar Jung Museum Act of 1961, the Indian government transferred the administration of the Museum on July 1, 1961 to a Board of Trustees with the Governor of Andhra Pradesh as ex-officio Chairman. The Salar Jung Museum Act has empowered the Board of Trustees, which is an autonomous body, not only to manage the Museum efficiently, but also to plan, promote, organize and implement programs for the proper development of the Museum. Moreover the Board has been fully authorized to take such measures, as it thinks fit for providing instruction and research in activities bearing on museums & libraries, and for the advancement of learning.

Collections
Apart from this, there is a gallery devoted to the illustrious Salarjung family, the Children's Section, a rich reference Library, reading room and a Rare Manuscripts Section with Arabic, Urdu Persian manuscripts which makes this museum a place of education and enjoyment for people from all walks of life..
Founder's Gallery recreates the life & times of the Salar Jungs with their portraits, and personal artifacts. Also on display are unique momentos like the panegyric in Urdu presented to Sir Salar Jung & Nizam VI in memory of their having attended the Imperial Proclamation of Queen Victoria in 1877 at Delhi, and portraits of the Nizams of Hyderabad, under whom the Salar Jungs served as Prime Ministers.
The Indian Collection is a chronicle of India's diverse and rich cultural heritage through the ages. It comprises stone sculptures, bronze images, painted textiles (Kalamkari etc.), wood carvings, miniature paintings, modern art, ivory carvings, jade carvings, textiles, metal-ware, manuscript, arms & armour etc.
Middle Eastern Art is represented in an eclectic collection of carpets, paper(manuscripts), glass, metal-ware, furniture, lacquer etc. from Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt.
One of the few Indian museums with an extensive collection of Far Eastern Art, porcelain, bronze, enamel, lacquerware, embroidery, painting, wood & inlay work from China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal and Thailand etc. are on display. The Chinese collection especially, represents a comprehensive range of export wares on par with the best internationally.
Oil and watercolor paintings form an important part of the European Collection. Apart from several 19th cent British painters, the gallery also includes artists of the French, Italian & German schools. Also on display are Venetian glass, Sevres porcelain, Dresden China, Wedgwood pottery, English furniture, Greek sculptures etc.
Objects acquired by Salar Jung III during his childhood are on display in theChildren’s Section. The exhibits housed here provide informal education to the children apart from providing delight to them.

Nizams Jewellery

The Collection was for the first time presented to the people of India in 2001 at New Delhi. In the same year it was brought to this city. This stunning jewellery exhibition attracted over 2.35 lakh visitors to the Salar Jung Museum from 24 November, 2001 till 30 June 2002. The grand success of the last exhibition and with the encouragement of The Ministry of Culture, this priceless heritage of the nation has second exhibition presented to the people of Hyderabad by the Salar Jung Museum from 1st January 2006 to 16th March 2007.
The exhibition was presented with new insights into the history of the Nizams’ Jewellery. The interiors have been divided into three spaces- the lobby area, the Introductory Gallery with rare photographs from the Chowmahalla Palace Collection and the main vault where the jewels have been displayed under high security. The jewellery is displayed in twenty-nine showcases.
The main gallery displays jewellery spread over twenty-nine showcases including the framed 184.50 carat Imperial Diamond, the twenty two priceless uncut Columbian emeralds believed to have been part of the Roman treasury, magnificent Basra pearls and the rare alexandrite ring.
Among the many jewellery pieces dating from the early eighteenth century to the twenty century on display in the Nizams jewellery exhibition, a few of the highlights are:’•
The famed 184.50 carat Imperial (Jacob) diamond.
The twenty two priceless uncut Colombian emeralds
The rare carat alexandrite ring.
A Kanthi (necklace) with approximately 12 flat diamonds totaling an astonishing 250 carats from the Golconda mines
Taveez Dand Zamarrud Wa Kanval Almas, step cut emerald bazubands or armbands weighing 100 and 150 carats once thought to have belonged to Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.
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