Salar Jung Museum Hyderabad

Location: Banks of the Musi River, Hyderabad.
How to reach: Easily accessible from Hyderabad with the help of local transport.
Main Attractions: Artifacts from all over the world that include a musical clock, the Veiled Rebecca, rare scriptures and manuscripts


The Salar Jung museum in Hyderabad is one of the oldest museums in the city. It is the only museum that has the largest compilation of personally collected artifacts from all around the world. This museum has the greatest collection of rare antiques and knick-knacks from all over the world. One needs to devote an entire day for touring the museum itself.

Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, commonly known as Salar Jung III, did the major collections. However it was started by his father Nawab Mir Laiq Ali Khan also known as Salar Jung II and his grand father Nawab Mir Turab Ali Khan i.e. Salar Jung I. The museum boasts of a collection of 40,000 items, which have been accumulated from every possible place in the world. The former Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru declared this spectacular collection open for public display. Later a board of trustees was appointed to look after this legendary museum.

The portraits of the Salar Jung, the Nizams of the Hyderabad city can be found in the Founder's Gallery. The Indian art is exhibited in an assortment of stone sculptures, bronze images, painted textiles, wooden carvings, miniature paintings, modern art, ivory carvings, jade carvings, metal-ware, manuscripts, arms & armor etc. One can also find Middle Eastern Art in the collection of carpets, paper (manuscripts), glass, metal-ware, furniture, lacquer etc. These have been collected from Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt. The Museum is also horded with porcelain, bronze, enamel, lacquerware, embroidery and paintings, which have been skillfully done in China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal and Thailand.

The European chamber of artifacts in the Salar Jung Museum comprises of oil and water paintings. These paintings originate from countries like England, France, Italy and Germany. A well-preserved library within the museum provides a rare treat to all book lovers. The main attractions of the museum are the statue of Veiled Rebecca, crafted knives of Mughal Emperor Jehangir and Queen Noor Jehan, famous European paintings like Venice, etc. A huge clock in which a tiny soldier comes out to strike the gong should not be missed and is a special attraction of the Salar Jung Museum.