Gandhi Memorial Museum, established in 1959, is a memorial museum for

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

located in the city of

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

, India. Known as Gandhi Museum, it is now one of the five Gandhi Sanghralayas (Gandhi Museums) in the country. It includes a part of the blood-stained garment worn by Gandhi when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse.

History

Years after the

assassination of Mahatma Gandhi Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at age 78 in the compound of The Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi. His assassin was Nathuram Godse, from Pune, Maharashtra, a Hindu nationalist, with ...

, in 1948 an appeal was made to the citizens of India nationwide to build memorials for him. With the help of contributions from poor and rich citizens of India, a trust was established for this cause, the Mahatma Gandhi National Memorial Trust. This museum was inaugurated by the former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jawaharlal Nehru on 15 April 1959. Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai comes under the Peace Museums Worldwide selected by the United Nations Organisation (UNO). The palace of Rani Mangammal was renovated and converted into the museum. It is near the Madurai Collector Office.

Collections in the Museum

The museum has an original letter written personally by Gandhiji to Narayanan Satsangi of Devakottai. A congratulatory message sent by Gandhiji to freedom fighter and poet Subramania Bharati is also preserved in this museum. Another interesting letter is the one written by the Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler addressing him as "Dear Friend".

India Fights for Freedom

A special exhibition on "India Fights for Freedom" with 265 illustrations depicts the history of the Freedom Movement.

Visual Biography of Gandhiji

Located in a quiet place, this memorial of Gandhi contains a "Visual Biography of Bapuji" containing photos, paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, quotations and selected copies of his letters and renderings. This section contains 124 rare photographs depicting various phases of Gandhi from his childhood days until being taken to the

crematorium A crematorium, crematory or cremation center is a venue for the cremation of the Death, dead. Modern crematoria contain at least one cremator (also known as a crematory, retort or cremation chamber), a purpose-built furnace. In some countries a ...

. The pictures displayed here are carefully selected making viewers remember the importance of a national leader, who lived his life as an example to all.

Relics and Replicas

This section contains 14 original artifacts used by Gandhi. There is a blood-stained cloth used by Gandhi on the day of his assassination, although it is also said that this is only a replica and not the original. It is conserved inside a vacuum glass box, making viewers remember the importance of that day in the history of India.

Gallery

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References

External links

* http://www.gandhimuseum.org/ * http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/in-search-of-gandhis-footprints/article3941622.ece

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