Museum of Kerala History

A monument summarizing the history of Kerala, the Museum of Kerala History is located in Kochi, Kerala, and is a trunk of gems that includes artifacts, sculptures, and several other historical and contemporary exhibits that illustrates the journey of Kerala.

About the Museum

A visit to the town of Edapally in Kochi is incomplete without visiting the Museum of Kerala History which showcases the cultural history of God’s Own Land Kerala and tells us about the people who made history in Kerala. A museum full of statues, paintings, and sculptures, the Museum of Kerala History successfully unravels the history of Kerala, right from the Neolithic era to the modern age, and was established in 1984.

Upon entering the Kerala History Museum, the first thing that grabs the attention is the massive statue of Sage Parasurama who is believed to have created Kerala by reclaiming land from the seas. There are over 90 life-size statues of famous personalities from Kerala, relics, and artifacts of royalty, and those from the ordinary ancient households on display. Other exhibits include a mural painting of about 25 feet long illustrating a scene from the Sanskrit drama Shakunthalam by Kalidas which is an eye-catching piece of art with meticulous details and vibrant colors. There are numerous other exhibits displayed in the museum that are distinguished under different sections:

• Sculptures Gallery : The section showcases about 50 sculptures created by several artists such as D.P Roy Chaudhary, Bajaj, and Sarbari Chaudhary among others.
• Art Gallery : The Gallery of Art and Sculptures houses different original pieces of work by contemporary artists that offer visitors a peek into various phases of Indian art. The artists whose paintings are displayed here include MF Hussain, Raja Ravi Verma, Jamini Roy, Manu Parekh, Ram Kumar, Ganesh Haloi, Shyama Dutta Roy, Bimal Das, Sunil Das, etc., and paintings belonging to regions like Orissa and Bengal and schools like Thajnavoor are on display.
• Gallery of Miniatures : The Gallery of Miniatures houses microcosmic artifacts from various schools of art such as the Mughal, the Rajasthani, the Pahari, the Deccan, and so on. The intricacy and precision of the Indian miniature art is apparent in the paintings.
• Dolls Gallery Museum : The Dolls Museum is a small section inside the Museum of Kerala History that was established here in the year 2000 and houses over 100 dolls from all over the country. The hand-crafted Indian dolls depict different states of India in their traditional attires and dolls dressed as peasants, brides and grooms, and people of different castes engaged in various activities. Apart from the galleries, the one-hour light and sound show that is accompanied by music and narration transports you back to the past 2000 years of Kerala’s history. The show also includes the socio-cultural aspect of various historic periods that contributes greatly to the success of the show.