The Fascinating Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum

Yesterday I took myself off for a bit of culture by visiting the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (previously the Victoria & Albert Museum) which was recommended to me by MaximumCityMadam.  

I have been a bit disheartened by the museums I had already visited in India - the uninteresting, dirty displays, the lack of information, the farce of trying to get in (not to mention the 10-20 times price differential on entry fees for foreign persons).  But I was very pleasantly surprised by the BDL Museum - which is set in a fabulously maintained Victorian building, is very nicely laid out and is spotlessly clean.  And besides being a thoroughly fascinating place to visit, it only cost 100 Rs to get in (with no entry farce) and there was no extra photography charge! Unheard of! (You usually either have to put your camera in a locker or pay an additional fee to use your camera in Indian 'places of interest'.)

Beautiful Victorian Edifice

The BDL website tells me that the Victoria & Albert Museum was set up in 1872 and is the oldest museum in the city (and third oldest in the whole of India).  It became Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (not a name that is easy to remember!) in 1975 to honour the man whose vision it was to establish it. Incidentally, there is a formal partnership between BDL and our Victoria & Albert Museum back home in London - and they sometimes share exhibitions and expertise. 

Check out that painted ceiling and tiled floor

I was very impressed by the quality of the displays. On the ground floor you will find examples of Indian handicrafts (silverware, pottery, laquerware, paintings, carvings in ivory).  Upstairs on the first floor there are historic maps, model ships, dioramas and clay models of Bombay life during the 19th and 20th centuries. Such models as 'The Ideal Rural Village' - a bucolic vision with neatly laid out, well built homes and lush green farming land. Bombay didn't really turn out that way - but it was a nice thought anyway.

The place isn't enormous - you can get round in an hour or so (even if you read everything on display) and the shop and cafe behind the main building are tiny.  But the BDL Museum has the most beautiful of interiors that I have seen in a colonial building - so it is well worth a visit just for that.

Some more pics:

Of course frowned at these days - but you can't deny the amazing workmanship of this ivory Shiva carving

Nice examples of colourful pottery

Beautiful workmanship on this silver teapot

Plenty of small paintings showcasing Indian art to be found

Dr Bhau Daji Lad himself

A glimpse into the Conservation Lab - this is a 'proper' museum!

Beautiful Lacquerware

More of that stunning interior

The view down from the first floor

Enjoy reading about the fascinating peoples that make up Bombay - from Parsis, to Bohras to Sikhs and Sindhs.
A complete education!

Dozens of glass cases housing clay models depicted life through the ages - here, Sikh soldiers on horseback

I've always been fascinated by the Towers of Silence in Malabar Hill - which you can't actually see unless you are a Parsi.  This is the place where the Parsis deal with their dead and the above is a model of it...a detailed explanation below.

Towers of Silence diorama from above.

OK...don't freak out!

Stupendous Chandelier

A reminder of past times...

DR. BHAU DAJI LAD MUSEUM

91 A, Rani Baug, 

Veer Mata Jijbai Bhonsle Udyan,

Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Marg, 

Byculla East, 

Mumbai, Maharashtra 400027.

India.

Phone:

+91-22-23731234

+91-22-65560394

VISITING HOURS

10.00 am to 6.00 pm (Tickets sold upto 5:30 pm)

Closed on Wednesdays and certain public holidays

TICKETS

Adults	Rs. 10
Children (5 to 15 years)	Rs. 5
Students	Rs. 2
Children (Under 5years & accompanied by parents)	Free
Foreign Citizens	Rs. 100
Children (5 to 15 years)	Rs. 50
Children (Under 5years)	Free

If you're interested in other Mumbai museums, please visit my post about The Prince of Wales Museum

A ruined visit to the Prince of Wales Museum

Having been ill with ear ache for the whole of the previous week, I suggested to Mr Jules that visiting a museum would be a nice, calming and cultured way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  So it was with this in mind that we set off in the car to visit the Prince of Wales Museum in South Mumbai.  Or Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya as it is more catchily known as these days.



The exterior of the building, surrounded by lush greenery - rare to find in Bombay

We just about got in OK, despite battling dozens of Indians at the entrance who evidently did not know what the word "queue" meant (why aren't we used to this by now?). Before longish, we were viewing the museum's showcase of archaeology, art and artefacts, decorative arts, stone sculptures, and its Chinese and Japanese collections.  How cultured, how relaxing! There is also an extensive Natural History section with all manner of stuffed animals native to India, including a fish and bird section:

Images from the Natural History section - once majestic animals

Of more interest to me was the collection of Decorative Art objects in jade, wood, ivory, metal and textiles, described as 'magnificent' by the museum curators.  I have to say, they weren't a patch on the displays at the Victoria & Albert Museum back home in London, but they weren't bad.  The selection of art originating from all parts of India was also interesting - some of it gaudy, some of it naive, some intricate, some very very beautiful. 

As is always the case, Mr Jules and I never seem to be able to go anywhere without some sort of drama. Today, it happened to be schoolkids.  Hundreds (maybe thousands!) of schoolkids. Schoolkids emerging out of every crevice of of the building, marching through every room, filling every stairwell, sitting on every seat.  Every corner we turned they were there.  And then some of the school girls started to bet each other that they could speak to us.  So then they started shouting 'NAMASTE!!!' (welcome) every time they saw us (which was every two minutes), stopping to put their hands together and then asking for me to photograph them.  The noise these schoolchildren were making was riotous, disturbing my nice peaceful day and hurting my already overwhelmed eardrum. We tried to dodge them by going in the opposite direction or going to another part of the museum but there were so many of them it was impossible.  In the end we just gave up and fled.  We will go back another day when it's quieter! (why aren't schoolkids at home on Saturdays?)

School children coming out of every crevice of the building



NAMASTE!!!!

Some more images from the museum (I had to pay an extra 200 rupees on top of the entry fee to use my camera)



A good collection of Blue and White Chinese pottery

Nice bit of Chinoiserie

Art at the Sir Ratan Tata Gallery (his statue in the foreground)

 

Some very decent western art in the Ratan Tata Gallery (didn't note the artist of this one)

 

 

This is a very important book - the Panchatantra. - an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma. It is based on stories told from one generation to the next, including "animal fables that are as old as we are able to imagine". It is the most frequently translated book in India.

 

Attractive slightly Gothic interior of the museum - a Grade 1 listed building completed in the early 1900s



A statue of a Hindu Goddess
or.....Katie Price formerly known as Jordan?



 

A guard having five minutes to himself

The Prince of Wales Museum
(Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya)
159/61 Mahatma Gandhi Road,
Fort, Mumbai 400 023.
Telephone Nos.: 22844484 | 22844519

VISITING HOURS Tuesday to Sunday,10:15a.m.to 6:00 p.m. Monday closed
The Museum remains completely closed on following days:
January 26, May 1, August 15, October 2

ADMISSION (free for disabled visitors) fees
Type of Visitor	Amount
Visitors above 12 years of age	Rs. 40/-
College Students bearing their college identity card	Rs. 20/-
Child Visitors (between 5 and 12 years) and Students coming through schools	Rs. 05/-
International Visitors above 12 years of age (includes complimentary audio guide) (That's us)	Rs. 300/-
International Students bearing school / college identity card	Rs. 20/-
International Child Visitors between 5 to 12 years of age	Rs. 05/
Group concession available	Rs. 30/-