Located in Ram Niwas Garden Albert Hall Museum is not only great example of Indo-Sarasenic architecture but also enriched with educational and historically important collection. At night the building gets a different extremely elegant appearance with yellow light which can be seen from a distance.
Timing: The museum is open from 9am to 5pm. For enjoying lighting time is 7pm to 10pm.
Ticket: Albert Hall Museum is included in Composite ticket (Rs.400 per person) which can be booked through bookrajmonuments.in. You can purchase separate ticket also at Rs.300 for foreign nationals and Rs.40 for Indians (half price for students).
How to reach: You can visit Albert hall museum by public transport. We went there by booking a Ola cab for whole day. You can book a private cab also (not through Ola or Uber). I will not recommend autorickshaw for visiting tourist spots as I found they charge much higher (after bargain they reduce the price little bit) and not much comfortable for hot weather.
Building of Albert Hall Museum was built in late nineteenth century during the period of Maharaja Ram Singh originally for the purpose of town hall. Later it was converted to public museum during the period of Madho Singh II. It is named after King Edward VII (Real name: Albert Edward) during whose visit (then Albert Edward was the Prince of Wales) foundation stone was laid in 1876.
Albert Hall Museum is the oldest museum of Rajasthan and it is also the State Museum. Rajasthan is known for art and culture. This museum is the perfect place to know many interesting facts about the place. The museum has collection of ancient literature, coins, jewelry, weapons etc. The most interesting collection is the Egyptian Mummy!
As you enter to Albert Hall Museum you will see brief history of this museum and I quote “This museum collection was made under the superintendence of Brigade Surgeon Lt. Colonel T.H. Hendley G.I.E. It was commenced in August 1881 in temporary rooms in the city. Transferred to this building in September 1886 and formally reopened in February 1887. The collections are divided as follows: 1. Industrial Art, 2. Historical, 3. Educational and 4. Economic”. At the entry point you will also see pictures of Maharaja Madho Singh ji II and Maharaja Prithvi Raj.
Albert Hall building was constructed under the superintendence of Colonel S.S. Jacob C.I.E. assisted by Mir Tujumool Hoosein (supervisor), Lala Rambux Shunkurlal Chotelal, Draughtsmen, Chander and Tara Mistries. The work began in 1876 during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh Bahadur (Thakur Futeh Singh, Prime Minister) and completed in 1887 by Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh (Rao Bahadur Kanti Chunder Mookerji, Chief Member of Council). Total cost was Rs.5,10,036/-
I quote from the detailed history given in the museum below:
“When the foundation stone of Albert Hall was laid during the visit of the Prince of Wales Albert Edward of Jaipur in 1876 it had yet to be determined what use it would be put to. There were some suggestions about cultural or educational use or as a town hall.
However in 1880 Maharaja Sawai Mandho Singh II approved a suggestion by Dr. Thomas Holbein Hendley, Resident surgeon(whose interests extended beyond his medical responsibilities) to open a museum of Industrial Arts to display products of local craftsmen.
A small museum was created in 1881 in temporary accommodation and proved most popular. Additionaly, Hendley in 1883 mounted Jaipur Exhibition at Naya Mahal (old Vidhan Sabha). The purpose of these exercises was to acquaint local craftsmen with the best examples of art work and handicrafts of India to inspire them to improve their skills, thereby protecting and preserving traditional art and reviving skills, while providing greater employment for artisans. It was also the intention that the display would help educate youth in a wide variety of fields and entertain and inform the people of Jaipur.
The Albert Hall was completed in 1887 and the temporary museum and exhibition whose artifacts had been collected from several parts of India and its neighbourhood were merged and shifted to their permanent home in the new museum. The building itself became an integral part of the display, its Indo-Saracenic architecture and stone ornamentation became a source of reference for varied classical Indian styles from Mughal to Rajput. Even the corridors were decorated with murals in a variety of styles including the Ramayan, reproducing the paintings from illustrations in the Persian Razmnama prepared for Emperor Akbar. European, Egyptian, Chinese, Greek and Babylonian were portrayed in the other murals to enable the people of the region to compare and contrast them with their own and develop their knowledge of history and art.
Rudyard Kipling (himself the son of a curator) on a visit was so impressed by the architecture, woodwork, display, exhibits, cleanliness and not least the curators office that he wrote “it is now a rebuke to all other museums in India from Calcutta downwards”.
In 1898 on the eve of Hendley’s departure he acknowledged the generous financial help of the Durbar and wrote that on average the annual attendance exceeded a quarter million people and in eleven years there were more than three million visitors in the museum.
Thus Albert Hall became a centre for imparting knowledge of history of civilizations, inspiring artisans to improve their skills and preserving and developing traditional Indian arts, crafts and architectural forms and not least as Hendley said to “amuse and instruct the common people”.
Source – Albert Hall Museum information for the visitors
Carpet Gallery
The first part of Albert Hall Museum after entry is Carpet Gallery. It has collection of Mughal, Persian, and Indian carpets closed in glass chambers to retain their original beauty. At initial stage in 1896 the museum had display of only seven Indian pile carpets alongwith other floor spreads like daree, jajim, printed floor cloth and embroidered spread. Out of 7 carpets, 3 were made by the prisoners in Jail (hence called Jail Carpets), 2 were made in Lahore and Alwar and rest 2 are of South Indian origin. Later over the period carpet collection of different shapes, sizes and genres increased (in 1938 three carpets were added in the collection. For example, rectangle shaped, arch shaped and circular shaped carpets can be seen in the museum. During 1930s three types of carpets were known – Vilayati, Central Asian and Persian types (excellant quality and most expensive), Lahori type (produced in Lahore, medium quality with wool pile on cotton foundation) and Desi Local (produced in Agra, Amer and Ajmer made of Bikaneri wool). Main attraction of carpet gallery is large Persian Garden Carpet which is considered the most magnificent out of the six garden carpets available in the world.
At present the museum has a collection of total 18 carpets and following 7 carpets are being displayed in glass chambers of Carpet Gallery:
- Persian Garden Carpet of 17th Century
- Long Panel from a Carpet, Lahore of mid 17th Century
- Arch shaped Carpet with floral pattern of 17th Century
- Circular Carpet (Mughal style), Lahore of mid 17th Century
- Arch shaped Carpet (Mughal style), Lahore of mid 17th Century
- Large Carpet, Lahore Jail of 19th Century
- Jaipur Jail Carpet of 19th Century
In the Carpet Gallery large sized four oil paintings and a portrait of Prince of Wales, Albert VII (in whose honor Albert Hall Museum was named) are displayed on the wall and a 19th Century Piano is also there.
The museum has collection of good number of brass vessels, replicas of terracotta bas relief in Medieval European collection, Goblet, terracotta circular plaque, reproduction of a German shield made in Saxony bought at the German Exhibition 1891 in Greco Roman collection. Intricately designed brass Lord Buddha from Nepal looks so peaceful. Inside Albert Hall Museum there are collection of different types of vessels and artistic pieces which were common during 18th century. Architecture of the museum is such that even if outside weather is hot, inside the ambience is cool.
Sculpture Gallery
In Sculpture Gallery total 23 sculptures and 3 temple parts dating 3rd to 15th Century AD collected from Varanasi, Gandhar (Part of Afghanistan and Peshawar, Pakistan) and various places of Rajasthan. Among these sculptures 12 sculptures are from Jaipur (seven from Sambhar, two from Chaksu, two from Sanganer and one from Bagru), 5 from Dausa (three from Abhaneri and two from Mahuwa) and 1 each from Udaipur (Bansi), Jhunjhunu (Narhad) and Sirohi District.
Noteworthy sculptures are 8th Century AD Lord Shiva head from Bansi, Mahishasura Mardini, Kartikeya and Ravananugrah sculptures (8th Century AD) from Abhaneri, Goddess Chamunda statue of Pratihara period (9th-10th Century AD) from Bagru, Veenadhara Shiva and Vaman Vishnu sculptures (10th Century AD) from Sambhar, Trivikrama and therianthropic Varaha from Mahuwa, Bramani (11th-12th Century AD) from Sirohi. Two door jambs and one panel known as Sapt-Matrika panel collected from temples of Abhaneri are displayed in this gallery. It contains two divisions separated by ribbed pilaster showing Veenadhara Shiv in the company of six dancing figures.
In the First Floor of the museum followings are displayed:
- Coins, 2. Lacquer art, 3. Wooden art, 4. Textile, 5. Jewelry and Ivory artwork and 6. Clay models
In the coins collection there are coins during the period of Mughals and British time.
Textile Gallery/Costume Collection
In the museum costume collection are of 19th Century AD. Dresses of both elite class and common people can be found here. Embroidered beautiful Kashmiri dress for women is displayed. Other collections are dress of a peasant woman from western Rajasthan, heavily embroidered and embellished with pieces of mirror. It’s chunari (shawl) is of special style – embroidered but the dots are arranged in chunari manner. There is a display of a ghagra (designed skirt) and a blouse which is probably of a lady of elite class as it has heavy gota border with intricately embroidered blouse. Two quilted costumes of Rajasthan are also displayed.
Musical Instruments
Inside Musical instruments gallery ancient instruments like sitar, sarangi, ektara, dholak, pakhavaj, been (snake chamers’ flute), alghoja, mashak and rabab are displayed.
In the Jewellery section brass and silver jewellery are displayed which were commonly used by peasant female persons. Some of these are anklets, hairpins, bracelets, rings and necklaces.
In the arms and armor section of the museum weapons used by Rajput kings, Mughal, Turkish and Hyderabadi armors can be seen. Collection include spear, arrow, bow, war-helmets, tiger knives, swords etc.
The most interesting collection of the museum is Egyptian mummy. It is a mummy of a female person named Tutu from Akhmin of Penopolis (ancient place of Egypt) dated 322 -300BC. She was family member of priest of God Khem. On the upper body there is a drawing of winged scarab beetle. In ancient Egypitian belief winged scarab beetle is a symbol of immortality, resurrection, transformation and protection. There is also a drawing of God Horus. From the neck upto waist there is a dress designed with pearls. Winged Goddess is drawn to protect the dead body. There are several other drawings which were common in ancient Egypt like the hawk, God Anubis, head of Osiris – God of the dead, two cobras representing the Goddesses Isis and Nephtys.
The museum is a must-visit place in Jaipur and perfect treat to the inquisitive eyes!
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