Government Museum

On Sunday June 21, 2009 I visited Government Museum. It has a lot of variety, including antiquities, a national art gallery and a children's museum. I found the stone and bronze antiquities very beautiful and interesting. Most of the ones on display have a religious or heroic theme. The museum has panels explaining the meanings of the various works. However, the wealth of detail, lack of guidebooks for sale, and my sketchy memory have left me as an untrustworthy guide, so I hope you can appreciate the beauty of these works for their own sake. The one panel I do remember somewhat described the tradition of "hero stones." Stones would be carved celebrating the military exploits of important warriors. The stones might include images of both the sun and the moon, suggesting that the hero and his triumphs would be remembered forever. I found this example especially striking. Of course I forgot the name of the warrior.

The National Art Gallery includes a collection of historical and contemporary paintings. It includes portraits by the esteemed Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) that are considered national treasures. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good image of one of his works onto my blog. Here's a link to a example of his work that's similar to the ones I saw at the museum.

The grounds of the museum are a peaceful oasis in the middle of bustling Chennai. As I was admiring the trees, I noticed that some of them were filled with ... bats! Hundreds of them! Here's some video of them hanging upside down, flapping their wings to keep cool in the afternoon heat. You can hear many different birds in the audio.



One of the things that I wasn't really prepared for in Chennai was how much I stand out in a crowd. When I walk down the street, strangers wave and say hi. At the museum, a small group of people stopped where I was sitting and struck up a conversation with me. Two of the guys asked if they could take their picture with me so I said sure. I also asked them if they would use my camera to take the same picture for me, which surprised them a bit, but they obliged.