Hyd Explorations - 3 : Chowmahalla Palace, AP State Museum and Salarjung Museum
When talking about the Nizam period, I have to mention about two royal ladies - Durr-e-Shehvar and Niloufar Khannum Sultana.
Durr-e-Shehvar:
The Princess of Berar
Wife of Prince Azam Jah Bahadur
Daughter in law of Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur
Daughter of Last Caliph of Turkey Abdul Majid Khan II
Mother of Mufarram Khan and Mufakkam Khan(Esra Jah is wife of Mufarram Khan)
Niloufar Khannum Sultana:
Cousin of Princess of Berar Durr-e-Shehvar
Wife of Moazzam Jah
And was considered as one of the most beautiful ladies of her time
Chowmahalla Palace
Click here to visit the Official website of Chowmahalla Palace
Entry fees is Rs.25 and it is at a walkable distance from Charminar.
Chowmahalla Palace gets its name from the four palaces it comprises off. It belonged to the Nizams. It has lots of photos of the royal family - esp. Princess Niloufar and Princess Durr-e-Shehvar.
Now it has a studio called Royal Studio, where in visitors can wear dresses as worn by the royal family and get their photos taken. It costs around some Rs. 100 to Rs. 200(Not sure).
I came across a lot of new words during my visit here.Sikiligar is the name used for Sword smith; In a house, Zenana is used to denote the part where women live in and Mardana for men; Mahallat is an evocative name used locally to refer to the ladies in the household of Nizam-ul-Mulk, head of Asaf Jah Dynasty and ruler of Deccan. In this museum, it is used to denote Royal ladies of Asaf Jah dynasty 1885 - 2005
AP State Museum
The entry fee is Rs.10.
This museum houses a Mummy of 16 or 17 year old girl. The Mummy has been brought from Egypt. There is a description of how the dead bodies are processed. The Mummy is fully covered with cloth and Kept in vacuum, but the cloth at the toe nails are worn out, which when seen gives a spooky feeling.
Here, there are many statues, sculptures, Spittoon(Sailabchi), Nagardaan, Pandaan,Guldaan(flower vase), Aftaba(water jug), Surahi(water jug)which were excavated or collectedfrom various places in India. Tulwar is a type of sword and it doesn't translate directly to sword, as I had believed.
Inscriptions on stones/walls, which were found in various places, have been brought and embedded in concrete structures in the museum. The inscriptions are mostly in Persian(Naskh, Nastaliq scripts) and Arabic(Thulth script)
In one of my previous blogs, I have told about Jade stone vessels which were used to identify if the food is toxic. Here, in this museum , there are a collection of Jade vessels and a briefing about it. Jade vessel was considered to identify toxic food either by changing color or breaking. There was another type of material, which resembled Jade - Celadon. It seems Salah ed din (Saladin), Sultan of Egypt, sent 40 pieces of different vessels made of a bluish green stone material to Nur-ed-din, Sultan of Damascus and the material got named after Saladdin - Celadon.
Salarjung museum
The entry is Rs. 10.
This museum houses the articles and items collected by Salarjung who was the prime minister of Nizam and an art lover. Three generations of his have taken care of this - Salarjung I, Salarjung II, Salarjung III.
There was much hype about the musical clock and Double sided statue. The clock was an example of real good craftsmanship, considering the time it was made and its capabilities. The double sided statue which has a man on one side and woman on other side is a marvel. But I fell in love with "The Veiled Rebecca" statue made of marble by Roman Sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni. This was one thing that had me stumped to the ground. The status is of Rebecca who was brought up by her brother and when she was of marrigable age, he brings Isaac to home one day and asks Rebecca if she likes him. Rebecca likes him and covers herself using a veil because of shyness.The sculpture is to depict that moment.
Click here to see a glimpse of the statue though the photo here is nothing when compared to what you get to see in original.
Click here to see another admirer of Veiled Rebecca
There are many sections in the museum. And of all sections, I liked the clock section(where in the year and country where the clock was made was specified) and the manuscript section(which had old manuscripts).
Marie Antoinette(once Queen of France)'s dressing table and writing table are also present in the museum. One day is not sufficient to go around this museum.
Durr-e-Shehvar:
The Princess of Berar
Wife of Prince Azam Jah Bahadur
Daughter in law of Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur
Daughter of Last Caliph of Turkey Abdul Majid Khan II
Mother of Mufarram Khan and Mufakkam Khan(Esra Jah is wife of Mufarram Khan)
Niloufar Khannum Sultana:
Cousin of Princess of Berar Durr-e-Shehvar
Wife of Moazzam Jah
And was considered as one of the most beautiful ladies of her time
Chowmahalla Palace
Click here to visit the Official website of Chowmahalla Palace
Entry fees is Rs.25 and it is at a walkable distance from Charminar.
Chowmahalla Palace gets its name from the four palaces it comprises off. It belonged to the Nizams. It has lots of photos of the royal family - esp. Princess Niloufar and Princess Durr-e-Shehvar.
Now it has a studio called Royal Studio, where in visitors can wear dresses as worn by the royal family and get their photos taken. It costs around some Rs. 100 to Rs. 200(Not sure).
I came across a lot of new words during my visit here.Sikiligar is the name used for Sword smith; In a house, Zenana is used to denote the part where women live in and Mardana for men; Mahallat is an evocative name used locally to refer to the ladies in the household of Nizam-ul-Mulk, head of Asaf Jah Dynasty and ruler of Deccan. In this museum, it is used to denote Royal ladies of Asaf Jah dynasty 1885 - 2005
AP State Museum
The entry fee is Rs.10.
This museum houses a Mummy of 16 or 17 year old girl. The Mummy has been brought from Egypt. There is a description of how the dead bodies are processed. The Mummy is fully covered with cloth and Kept in vacuum, but the cloth at the toe nails are worn out, which when seen gives a spooky feeling.
Here, there are many statues, sculptures, Spittoon(Sailabchi), Nagardaan, Pandaan,Guldaan(flower vase), Aftaba(water jug), Surahi(water jug)which were excavated or collectedfrom various places in India. Tulwar is a type of sword and it doesn't translate directly to sword, as I had believed.
Inscriptions on stones/walls, which were found in various places, have been brought and embedded in concrete structures in the museum. The inscriptions are mostly in Persian(Naskh, Nastaliq scripts) and Arabic(Thulth script)
In one of my previous blogs, I have told about Jade stone vessels which were used to identify if the food is toxic. Here, in this museum , there are a collection of Jade vessels and a briefing about it. Jade vessel was considered to identify toxic food either by changing color or breaking. There was another type of material, which resembled Jade - Celadon. It seems Salah ed din (Saladin), Sultan of Egypt, sent 40 pieces of different vessels made of a bluish green stone material to Nur-ed-din, Sultan of Damascus and the material got named after Saladdin - Celadon.
Salarjung museum
The entry is Rs. 10.
This museum houses the articles and items collected by Salarjung who was the prime minister of Nizam and an art lover. Three generations of his have taken care of this - Salarjung I, Salarjung II, Salarjung III.
There was much hype about the musical clock and Double sided statue. The clock was an example of real good craftsmanship, considering the time it was made and its capabilities. The double sided statue which has a man on one side and woman on other side is a marvel. But I fell in love with "The Veiled Rebecca" statue made of marble by Roman Sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni. This was one thing that had me stumped to the ground. The status is of Rebecca who was brought up by her brother and when she was of marrigable age, he brings Isaac to home one day and asks Rebecca if she likes him. Rebecca likes him and covers herself using a veil because of shyness.The sculpture is to depict that moment.
Click here to see a glimpse of the statue though the photo here is nothing when compared to what you get to see in original.
Click here to see another admirer of Veiled Rebecca
There are many sections in the museum. And of all sections, I liked the clock section(where in the year and country where the clock was made was specified) and the manuscript section(which had old manuscripts).
Marie Antoinette(once Queen of France)'s dressing table and writing table are also present in the museum. One day is not sufficient to go around this museum.
posted by Fathima Sagar | 10:44:00 pm
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