5 Best Museums in Chennai

If you have a forever love affair with cameras, photography, (and vintage art), don’t miss out on the Vintage Camera Museum of Chennai. This camera museum is home to more than 1500 cameras and is a treat to the eyes! Almost all the cameras here have a back story and tales on how they were collected. A few of them were won in auctions, while others were bought from flea markets. Other than cameras the museum also has a huge collection of camera rolls, movie projectors, spy cameras, printing equipment and glass plates. Here’s a surprising fact! The person who inaugurated this camera museum was by profession a dentist! His name is Dr AV Arun.

If you have some time on your hands, attend the lectures on this museum and the cameras organised here. And if you want to add something to this museum, feel free to donate your old cameras or camera rolls to this museum.

Told you that we have the second largest museum in India here! So, welcome to Egmore Government Museum. This is a repository of culture, art, and tradition. This famous museum in Chennai boasts the largest collection of Roman antiques and other numismatic collections. It also has a Colossal Museum Theater which is certainly the most fascinating part of this museum. To cover the entire museum you have to visit 6 different buildings and each building is dedicated to different artefacts or periods of history. You will find anthropology, archaeology, pre-historic era and arts. And let us tell you, some of the buildings here are 100 years old!

Time to travel to the iron and bronze era! And for that, you have to visit the prehistoric gallery. It has artefacts like amours, ornaments, agricultural equipment, ancient pottery, utensils, and ritual objects which showcases the early ages and how human beings used to survive back then. Apart from the prehistoric gallery, the art and zoology gallery will awe-struck you with its paintings of different eras and numerous skeletons of extinct animals and birds. You can end the museum tour with the children's gallery. It is both interesting and entertaining. Overall, this Chennai government museum is full of wonders and we highly recommend a visit to this one!

This 3d museum in Chennai is unique and will make you fall in love with art and paintings. As soon as you enter the frame of the art, the art would come alive and your mind will be blown. All the art pieces have a unique spot or centre which is marked, and once you stand there or give a pose, the art gives the best 3D effect. So go ahead and click selfies with Bruce Lee as he kicks you out of the frame, or get gulped down by a crocodile as you hold its jaw! Or fly like a bird in the sky or get some colourful butterfly wings on your back.

There is plenty to do here and all with pictures. So we say, go explore this art museum as the painting and contemporary arts come to life while you stand in front of them. This art museum in Chennai is one of the coolest museums and will bring the fun side of you and your children with its every art piece.

The list of the best museum in Chennai must have this name! Here’s why! The museum will help you explore the authentic and cultural art and heritage of South India. As the meaning of Dakshinachitra means ‘Art of South’, you would find here the living history of the southern states of India. Every little artefact and structure in this museum has significance in the history, tradition, and culture of South India and its nearby region.

The Ilkal House of this museum represents Karnataka. Here, you will find the house is built with granite and inside the house, there are utensils and a stove which was traditionally used by the Kanada people in their early lives. We would recommend you also visit the Tholu Bommalata of this museum. It means Shadow Puppetry. It is one of the most exciting buildings as it holds events and workshops which depict the rural tradition and culture of South India. And to make things even more exciting, there are puppet shows! Interestingly, the puppets used for the puppet show are made of leather and the colours are extracted from vegetables and mineral dyes. There is more for you! Visit the textile museum and learn more about the traditional textile of the South. The range of textile will wonderstruck you! From Kanchipuram to Machilipatnam you would find it all here.

We all know how India was under the British Raj for several years and during that time a lot of royal people from Great Britain stayed in the South. The Fort Museum holds some of the most historical antiques from the British era. You would be amazed to find here a huge collection of weapons, armours, uniforms, and other indigenous weapons used during the British Raj. Apart from these, you can also learn about the personal lives of the royal prince and princess as the museum is home to a collection of wealthy porcelain artefacts and various medals and coins. You would also find the first-ever hoisted flag of India after Independence in this museum!

There is a specific gallery for portraits, where you will find a large collection of oil paintings and other pictures of the royal members. And you know what, you cannot finish the whole tour of this museum in a single day. After all, it has 10 galleries segmented into 3 floors! So, if you want, you can visit the museum a few more times when you are in Chennai! So many interesting things await in the museums of Chennai. Why don’t you visit some museums from this list on your next Chennai trip!