Government Museum/Art Gallery

This museum is located near Kasturba Gandhi Road and is one of the oldest museums of the country, established in the year 1866. The building is a Neo-classical structure built with Corinthian columns. It has 18 sections which include a collection of jewelry, miniature paintings, sculptures and artifacts. It is a pleasant treat for art lovers. The Venkatappa Art Gallery is a wing of this museum which has paintings related to the Mysore style. The gallery has about 600 paintings, which are on display throughout the year. On the ground floor, the paintings of K. Venkatappa, born in 1887 to a family of court painters, are on display. His works include a panoramic view of the Ooty Lake, view from Church Hill - Ooty, Nilgiri Mountains, Kodaikanal, and Sunrise in Ooty, a painting on Monsoon and various other sketches. On the first floor, you can see the paintings of M. F. Hussain, Vasudev, Hanumaiah, Hariram, Rekha Rao, Yusuf Arakkal and N. S. Bendre along with various other renowned artists. On the same floor is a section dedicated to C. P. Rajaram's exquisite wood carvings. The second floor is solely dedicated to K.K Hebbar - the "Hebbar Section". His paintings on the elements are titled Vayu, Jala, Prithivi, Sea Shore, In Space, Nagamandala, Agni, Last Glimpse and Death. It also includes numerous sketches labeled Japan, Bali village, Mother and so on.