Page 456 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

454  SOUTHWESTERN INDIA

5 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu
Sangrahalaya

Formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya is renowned for its superb sculptures and miniature
paintings. Housed in a grand Indo-Saracenic building designed by George Wittet, its
foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales (the future George V) in 1905.
During World War I, it served as a military hospital, and was formally inaugurated
in 1923 by Lady Lloyd, wife of Governor George Lloyd. Generous
gifts from discerning private collectors have enabled the
museum to build a rare collection of
over 60,000 art objects.
Second
floor
Japanese
Cloisonné
This 19th-
century vase
forms part of an
impressive
collection of Far
Eastern art.

Arms and Armour include
the finely decorated swords and
shields of the Mughal emperors.

. Jahangir
Giving Alms
This early
17th-century Mughal
miniature shows
Jahangir giving alms
to Sufi mendicants at
the Dargah Sharif in
Ajmer. The gallery has
over 200 miniatures.

The Coomaraswamy
Hall hosts seminars and
temporary exhibitions.
Key to Floorplan
Pre- and Proto-History Gallery
Key Gallery
Indian Sculpture
Gallery Guide Natural History Section
Decorative Arts
The museum has galleries on three floors. The ground
floor houses sculpture (including Gandhara master- Miniature Paintings
pieces), the Pre- and Proto-History Gallery, and the Bronzes
Natural History Section. On the first floor are miniature Nepalese and Tibetan Art
paintings, decorative arts, Nepalese and Tibetan Maritime History
Art, and the Premchand Roychand Galleries. The European Paintings
Himalayan Art Gallery has reopened after an extensive
restoration. The second floor has European paintings, Far Eastern Art
arms and armour. There is a museum shop at the Arms and Armour
entrance of the building. Premchand Roychand Gallery
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p700 and pp714–15

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