Salar Jung Museum

The Salar Jung Museum stands on the bank of the Musi River in Hyderabad and is counted among the three largest museums in India. It grew from the collection of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III, who bought art from Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. Jawaharlal Nehru opened it in 1951; in 1961 an Act of Parliament made it, with its library, an Institution of National Importance; and in 1968 President Zakir Hussain opened its present building.

The holdings run to more than 46,000 objects, 8,000 manuscripts and 60,000 printed books, spanning the 2nd century BC to the early 20th century. They are split between an art gallery and an antiquities gallery. Famous pieces include the marble Veiled Rebecca, the double statue of Mephistopheles and Margaretta, a 19th-century musical clock with over 350 parts, jade objects, Mughal miniatures, daggers of Shah Jahan and Jahangir, a sword of Aurangzeb and clothing of Tipu Sultan. Guided tours, talks and a research library are also offered.