Kerala Museum (also known as the Museum of Kerala History) at Edapally,

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

, India, is one of the oldest art and history museums in Kochi. It is managed by the Madhavan Nayar Foundation, a registered Public Charitable Trust, established in 1984, founded by philanthropist and entrepreneur R. Madhavan Nayar (1914–1996). The museum was opened to visitors in 1987. Kerala Museum has three galleries: the Museum of Kerala History, the Dolls Museum and the Gallery of Modern Art.

Museum of Kerala History

The Museum of Kerala History is the oldest gallery in the Kerala Museum. The museum depicts the stories of the lives of 87 personalities, who played a significant role in shaping

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

's future. A light and sound show is organised for all visitors to the gallery, with commentaries in English and Malayalam. Important historical personalities in focus in the gallery include including Ay Andiran of Pothiyilmala, Senguttavan and Ilango Venmani, St. Thomas, the Aryan immigration, Nannan of Ezhimala, Kulasekhara Alwar, Cheraman Perumal Nayanar and

Shankaracharya Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , "Adi Shankara, Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi ...

. Sculptor Karamana Rajagopal of

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

created the sculptures and dioramas in this gallery, and pre-eminent Kerala historian

A. Sreedhara Menon Alappat Sreedhara Menon (18 December 1925 – 23 July 2010), known as A. Sreedhara Menon, was an Indian historian from Kerala. He is best known as the State Editor (1958–68) of Kerala District Gazetteers (1961–1975). He served as registrar o ...

extended advice on content. Outside the gallery is a statue of

Parasurama Parashurama (), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Veerarama, is the sixth avatar among the Dashavatara of the preserver god Vishnu in Hinduism. He is believed to be one of the ''Chiranjivi, Chiranjeevis'' (Immortals), who ...

, the sage who is believed to have brought forth the land of Kerala from the ocean.

Modern Art Gallery

The Modern Art Gallery, which opened in 1993, has a collection of nearly 230 works of art by some of India's leading modern masters, including

Raja Ravi Varma Raja Ravi Varma ( ml, രാജാ രവിവർമ്മ; 29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist. He is considered among the greatest painters in the history of Indian art. His works are one of the best examples ...

M.F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian artist known for executing bold, vibrantly coloured narrative paintings in a modified Cubist style. He was one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Ind ...

F.N. Souza Francis Newton Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002) was an Indian-American British Asian artist. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay. Souza's style exhibited both decadence and primitivism. Early life and e ...

Jamini Roy Jamini Roy (Bengali: যামিনী রায়) (11 April 1887 – 24 April 1972) was an Indian painter. He was honoured by the Government of India the award of Padma Bhushan in 1954. He remains one of the most famous pupils of Abani ...

Benode Behari Mukherjee Benode Behari Mukherjee (7 February 1904 – 11 November 1980) was an Indian artist from West Bengal state. Mukherjee was one of the pioneers of Indian modern art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He was one of the earliest artists in mod ...

, Ramkinker Baij,

Ram Kumar Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

and

K.G. Subramanyan Kalpathi Ganpathi "K.G." Subramanyan (1924 29 June 2016) was an Indian artist. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2012. Life Subramanyan was born in Tamil Brahmin family on 1924 in Kuthuparamba in Kerala, India, and initially studied econ ...

, among others. The collection was assembled by Madhavan Nayar and his associates over a period of four years. Works were purchased from artists, art collectors and galleries while some were donated by the artists to the museum. The gallery was formally inaugurated in 1993 by then

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

K. Karunakaran Kannoth Karunakaran (5 July 1918 – 23 December 2010) was an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He served as the Chief Minister of Kerala four times during the late 1970s through the mid 1990s. He is the ...

. The Modern Art collection at the Kerala Museum is the only one of its kind accessible to the public in Kerala.

Dolls Museum

The doll museum has a collection of 150 dolls, depicting diverse cultural groups and dance traditions of India.

References

Museums in Kochi Museums established in 1984 1984 establishments in Kerala Art museums and galleries in India {{India-museum-stub