The Pondicherry Museum, locally referred to as the “Pondy Museum”, is
located close to Bharathi Park in Pondicherry. It exhibits a wide range of
artifacts and narrates the story of the city’s rich cultural heritage. The
museum is well known among history buffs and travellers looking to explore
Pondicherry.
Artifacts like stones, jewellery, coins, and statues excavated from the
Arikamedu heritage site are displayed at the museum. These depict Pondicherry’s
importance as a trade port from the 1st Century BCE to the 2nd Century CE. It was a
famous maritime center during that period, serving traders from Rome, the
Cholas, and the French. The relics from those times have been excavated by the
Archaeological Survey of India at Arikamedu. The Megalith period mud burial
urns, pots, pot sherds, dols, etc., were unearthed during the excavation conducted in
recent years.
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From Arikamedu
The museum also displays bronze statues and stone sculptures depicting
the vibrant life of the Pallava and Chola dynasties. We may also witness
remnants of the French colonial rule in the city. It is known for relics in
the form of furniture and other items of the Church. Pondicherry Museum gives us
a chance to marvel at the diversity of the history of Pondicherry and
understand its influence on the city’s culture.
Architecture of Pondicherry Museum
The Pondicherry Museum has magnificent architecture. Located in the
White Town Area on St. Louis Street, it was established in a former Law
Building. The building was constructed in 1788 and was later converted into
what we see as the Pondicherry Museum today. It has colonial architecture
with an attractive facade and inscriptions in French. The two-storeyed building
is painted in yellow and peach. It has large stone statues and fossilized tree
trunks displayed in the foyer and courtyard.
History of Pondicherry Museum
The Pondicherry Museum was established in 1983. It exhibits the
archaeological findings and cultural evidence of the region. The museum has a
collection of over 6500 exhibits that date back to the prehistoric era. It was
promoted as a center of knowledge and exploration of the history of the city.
Exhibits displayed at the Pondy Museum can be broadly divided into three
eras: the early period from the 1st century to the 4th century, the rule of the
Pallavas and Cholas, and the European era during which it was under French
colonial rule.
The following
galleries/sections are set up in the museum on three floors.
Sculptures (Courtyard-
North and South)
This section is at the
entrance of the Museum, and photography is allowed in this section. A few
specimens of Pallava and Chola sculptures were displayed in and around the
‘Place de Gouvernement’ since the French days. Those which were on display in the
‘Palais du Gouvernement’ have recently been installed in the front courtyard.
Kotravai
Buddha
The French India
Gallery (One)
All five different
segments, comprising four different aspects of Office Rooms (cabinet de
travail) and the numismatic section (in the middle) displayed in the Central
Hall, reflect a taste for tradition and refinement. Also on display in the
‘cabinet de travail’ is a replica of a chair used by Governor Dupleix
(1742-1754).
In a segment of this
gallery is displayed a hand-operated Gutenberg-type printing machine, the
oldest legacy retrieved from the ‘Imprimerie du Gouvernement’. Also on display
are specimens of books and journals printed in the course of the XIX and XX
centuries. An issue of ‘Vijaya’, the first daily edited by Poet Subramania
Bharathi, is also on display there.
The Archaeology Section
This gallery is made up
of two different segments, one displaying artifacts associated with the Megalithic
and Neolithic periods and the other displaying artifacts associated with the
historic period.
The Bronze Gallery
Exquisite pieces of
divine images, mostly found as treasure troves, adorn the bronze gallery. The
Panchaloga images of the Dancing Siva (Nataraja), Umamaheswara, Thiripurantaka & Thiripurasundari in the graceful tribhanga posture from
Sorakkudi. There are bronze specimens from the Vijayanagar and Nayaka
periods. Also on display are Pooja utensils, sara vilakku, kuthu villaku,
addukku deepam, etc. A few hanging lamps of a later period adorn the galleries.
Display of Vehicles
(Southern Courtyard)
A bullock drawn coach
used by the progenies of the more famous Dewan Kanakaraya Mudaliar, who helped
the French to establish their settlement in Puducherry early in 1674; a unique
type of vehicle known as "pousse-pousse" with a mechanical steering operated by
the passenger, but pushed from behind and pulled by rope in front, very much
liked by Poet Bharathi an ornamental palanquin provided with a chair-like seat
used by Divan Nidarajappayyar sometime during the last quarter of the XVIII
century (donated) are also on display here.
French India Gallery
(Two) Comprising
a) The Drawing
Chamber/Salon (Central Hall)
b) The Dining
Chamber/Salle à manger
c) The Bed Chamber/
Chambre a coucher
provide a ‘coup d’’oeil
of a typical household with furniture carrying features of ‘French style’ as
well as the hybrid ‘Franco Indian Style’ in vogue in France as well as French
India during the XVII and XIX centuries.
Also on display are
pianos, lamps, paintings, pictures and clocks besides fixtures and decorative
pieces which embellished the homes in Puducherry. In the ‘Chambre à coucher’
one can find a cot believed to have been used by Dupleix (XVIII century)
The Arms Gallery
In this gallery are
displayed different types of swords, lances, spears, muskets, guns, pistols,
cannons, cannonballs, etc., that were used in Puducherry.
Also on display are a
primitive type of bow and arrow, besides choppers, daggers, walking sticks with
camouflaged weapons, iron and wooden gadgets, and a boomerang. The oldest piece
on display is a rusted sword (fashioned like the Roman swords) retrieved
recently from a burial urn in Ousoudou village not far from Puducherry.
Gallery of Art and
Crafts (Western Wing)
Displayed in two
adjacent halls are a variety of handmade items and artifacts
crafted by artisans in France and Puducherry.
The Geological Section
(Southern Colonnade)
Specimens of sands,
shells, peat, pebbles, limestones and clays which form the principal mineral
resources of Puducherry are displayed here. Other minerals displayed here
include heavy sand and lignite. Beach sands containing layers of limonite,
granite and magnetite concentrations found along the Karaikal coast are also on
view.
Also displayed are
specimens of rocks and minerals of the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, besides Jammu and Kashmir.
LOCATION OF THE
PUDUCHERRY MUSEUM: CLICK HERE
--- OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---
