Museum of India: Baroda Museum, Vadodara

Museum of India: Baroda Museum, Vadodara

The above setenant stamp depicts an exquisite bronze statue of "Rishabhanath", which dates back to 6th Century A.D. and is a proud piece of Baroda Museum.

Rishabhanatha is the first Tirthankara (ford maker) in Jainism.Jain legends depict him as having lived millions of years ago.He was the first of twenty four lords in the present half cycle of time in Jain cosmology, and called a ford maker because his teachings helped one across the sea of interminable rebirths and deaths (saṃsāra). He is also known as Ādinātha of Jainism which translates into "First (Adi) Lord (nātha)",as well as Adishvara (first ishvara), Yugadideva (deva of yuga), Prathamaraja (first king), and Nebheya (son of Nabhi).


The Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery in Vadodara was built in 1894 on the lines of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Science Museum of London. Major Mant in association with R.F. Chisholm who refined some of Mant's finest works to make genuine Indo-Saracenic architecture designed the Building of this Museum. It preserves a rich collection of art, sculpture, ethnography & ethnology. Several of the paintings are not only original but masterpieces at the picture gallery. The picture gallery which offers an excellent collection of originals by famous British painters Turner and constable and many others attract tourists from every part of the country. The Egyptian mummy and skeleton of a blue whale are major attractions for those who visit the museum. Other treasure includes the famous Akota bronzes dating the 5th Century AD, A collection of Mughal miniatures, a full-fledged gallery of Tibetan Art and oils by several European masters.

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III belonging to the Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas founded the museum in 1887. The museum building was completed in 1894, when it opened to the public. Construction of the art gallery commenced in 1908, was completed in 1914, but did not open until 1921 as the First World War delayed transfer of pieces from Europe intended for the gallery.

List of museums in India

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