Salar Jung Museum

The third biggest museum in India, the Salar Jung Museum is located in Hyderabad, the city of Nizams, and houses an exquisite collection of relics, art, and historical objects most of which have been collected by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan or Salar Jung III, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad.

About the Museum

Established in 1951, the Salar Jung Museum is the third largest National Museum in India and one of the most visited sights in the city of Nizams, Hyderabad in Telangana. Most of the collection in the museum has been gathered by Nawab Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Bahadur, also known as Salar Jung III, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, who spent a wholesome part of his salary for 35 years to add on to the beautiful collection.

The museum of Salar Jung is a historic gallery dedicated to arts, craftsmanship, jewels, earthenware, floor coverings, materials, compositions, and furniture from diverse parts of the world. Due to no descendants of Salar Jung III, the government decided to form a committee who would undertake the maintenance of the museum in DerwanDevdi which was the royal residence of the Nizam. Later on in 1968, the gatherings of the museum were shifted to the present place and the administration was taken over by the government under the Salar Jung Museum Act, 1961.

A fascinating and exciting place for all the history and art lovers, the Salar Jung museum has an impressive assortment from all around the globe. The museum is spread in three buildings of two floors each and the stunning location comprising of River Musi and mountains makes it even more special. It houses over 43,000 art objects and 50,000 priceless books and manuscripts. The collection in the museum ranges from Indian Art, Middle Eastern Art, European Art, Far Eastern Art, Children Art, etc. the Indian Art includes a collection of stone sculptures, jade carvings, painted textiles, bronze images, miniature paintings, woodcarvings, modern art, textiles, arms and armors, etc. Middle-Eastern Art houses carpets, glass, furniture, lacquer, etc. from Arabia, Persia, Syria, and Egypt. The Far Eastern Art covers lacquer ware, porcelain, enamel, bronze, wood and inlay work, paintings from Tibet, China, Japan, and Nepal. Exquisite oil and watercolor paintings form a significant part of the European Collection. The museum also houses relics from the Mughal era some of which belongs to the Mughal emperors or their queens which demands the attention of the visitors.