Napier Museum in Trivandrum

Napier Museum is also known as 'Government Art Museum'. It is an art gallery cum natural history museum, situated in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the heritage Indian state of Kerala. The museum was first established in 1855. But this building was destroyed in 1874, and the new building was established at the same place. The construction of the building was completed in the year 1880. The name of new building was after the name of Lord Napier, who was the Governor of Madras (Chennai) during 1866 to 1872. The building of the museum reflects the glimpse of the rich heritage of Kerala.

Architecture of the Museum:
The architecture of the museum is a milestone amongst the buildings of the region. The architecture of this magnificent building was designed by Robert Chisholm, who was a consulting architect of Madras Government. The museum exhibits the blend of Kerala, Mughal, Chinese and Italian styles of architecture. The gothic roofs of the museum with beautiful minarets give a fascinating look, that leave the visitors with open eyes. The Indo – Saracenic structure of the museum enriches it with a natural air conditioning system.

Attraction of the Museum:
Not merely the first sight of the museum impress the visitors with its eye-catching structure, but the rare and rich collection of the museum also mesmerize them a lot.

The museum has a very rare collection of historic and archaeological artifacts. There you may find many antique objects of ancient times such as: a temple chariot, bronze idols, ivory carvings and ancient ornaments etc.

The museum also houses an art gallery named - Sri Chitra Art Gallery, that consists rich works from Raja Ravi Verma and Nicholas Roerich. It also contains excellent works of Rajput, Mughal and Tanjore art schools. The Oriental collection in the museum comprises the paintings of Tibet, Japan, China and Bali.

The vast lush ground of the museum is ornamented with a Zoological garden, which was established in the year 1857. It is also one of the oldest Zoological gardens in India, which covers an area of 2,20,000 sq meter.

Important Information:
Nearest Airport: Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (6 km)
Nearest Railway Station: Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station (2 km)
By Road: Thiruvananthapuram is very well connected via road networks from all the city of Kerala.
Do Remember: The use of Plastic is prohibited in the premises of the museum.