Salar Jung Museum

The Salar Jung Museum grew out of the personal collection of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, who spent much of his life buying art from India, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. The result is idiosyncratic rather than systematic: Mughal daggers beside Venetian glass, Kashmiri shawls beside Victorian furniture, jade cups, carved ivory, clocks, illuminated manuscripts and a room of European oil paintings. Two objects draw the crowds, a nineteenth-century marble figure known as the Veiled Rebecca and a large musical clock in which a small figure steps out to strike each hour. The galleries are extensive and easy to lose an afternoon in.

History

The collection was gathered over thirty-five years by Nawab Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III, who lived from 1889 to 1949 and served as prime minister of Hyderabad under the Nizam. After his death it was shown in his ancestral palace, Diwan Devdi, as a private museum opened by Jawaharlal Nehru on 16 December 1951; Nehru laid the foundation stone of a new building by the architect Mohammed Fayazuddin in 1963, and in 1968 the museum moved to its present site at Dar-ul-Shifa (Wikipedia, Salar Jung Museum).

What's there

• The Veiled Rebecca - a marble figure carved so the veil reads as translucent, always ringed by visitors.
• The musical clock - a British bracket clock where a figure emerges to strike, on the hour, every hour.
• Jade and ivory rooms - Mughal jade cups, hilts and carved ivory laid out in long lit cases.
• Textiles and manuscripts - Kashmiri shawls, embroidered court dress and illuminated Persian and Arabic books.

When to go

October to March keeps Hyderabad's heat manageable; April and May are punishing outdoors. The museum closes on Fridays. Aim for opening time on a weekday, because the clock room fills well before the hour and school groups arrive later in the morning. Two to three hours is realistic, and trying to see everything is not.

Practical notes

Lighting and case design are dated, and labels are thin on provenance and history. The building is a long, low block with repetitive corridors, so fatigue sets in fast. Bags go to a counter and photography is restricted. Crowds bunch around the two famous pieces while whole wings stand almost empty.

Nearby

Charminar, the Laad Bazaar bangle lanes and Chowmahalla Palace are all close by in the old city.

Key facts