A.P.State Museum, Hyderabad

Originally the museum was known as "Hyderabad museum". Today it is known as the A.P. State Museum, located in the Public Garden of Hyderabad City. This is the oldest museum in Hyderabad. The Department of A & M, A.P., owes its original establishment to Nizam VII of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. The Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, wanted to preserve the cultural heritage in his state and also took steps to extend the treasure trove act of the British ruled dominions to his state and also created the Department of Archaeology under the stewardship of Dr. Ghulam Yuzdani in 1915. From then onwards the department played an active role and conducted several extensive explorations and excavations. Several Hindu and Muslim monuments were protected and conserved. From various activities of the Department and extending the Treasure Trove act to the Nizams dominions, large number of antiquities and other artefacts of ancient period were collected. The collection became so vast that in the year 1930 it led to the starting of the Museum. the proposal of setting up a museum was accepted by the Nizam and the museum was constituted in the premises of the Public Gardens, Hyderabad. The Museum then known as the "Hyderabad Museum" started the collection of works of the contemporary artists from 1949-50. In 1968 the name of the museum was changed to "State Museum, Hyderabad". It is administered by State Govt. of A.P. There are many galleries devoted to Stone Sculptures, Bronzes, Weapons, Arms & Armoury, Copies of Ajanta murals, Manuscripts, Textiles, Bidri ware, coins, modern paintings, miniatures, sculptures etc. Though there is a vast textile collection it has not been displayed alongwith other objects. By nature, the State Museum is mainly research oriented and has brought out several publications in connection with its variety of collections.

The museum has the two main galleries of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture. The Buddhist antiquities are dated to 2nd CAD to 3rd CAD. The Hindu sculptural gallery represents the sculptures of Chalukyan period by Vijayanagara period. It has a rich collection of coins said to be the second in the world, next to the British Museum, London. It has nearly 14,000 gold coins, besides 1,00,000 silver, potin, lead, and copper coins belonging to various dynasties in general and particular in Andhra Pradesh. The highest collection of manuscripts consisting mainly of the Holy Quran in more number of different nature, which are interesting in historic, artistic and calligraphic point of view, are available in the museum. These illuminated manuscripts display is of a very high artistic taste, which reflects the lavish taste of the oriental royalty and nobility. Now the Dept. is planning to document all these rare and more significant collection on computers for ready reference and passing on the information to other museums wherever necessity arises, and also to the public. It is also contemplating to publish catalogues, guidebooks on museums, picture post cards etc.

In addition to the above, there is a library at the Museum, consisting of books more on the museum subjects, which are more useful to scholars and researchers in the subjects concerned. Highlights of some of the exhibits displayed in the museum: