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Stone Sculpture Galleries

The Egmore Museum is home to a remarkable collection of stone sculptures. Carved over 2000 years ago, the Amaravati sculptures are the earliest examples of Buddhist art in the whole world. Lend an ear to their stories and you will experience History like never before. In an adjoining bay, 1500-year-old inscriptions hold clues to how languages evolved. Ancient Hindu and Jain sculptures next door, hint at the big Gods of the time. And 1000-year-old Hero and Sati stones tell tales of age-old customs and traditions. Explore all this and more on this tour of the stone sculpture galleries of the Egmore museum.

This trail starts at the entrance of the South Indian sculptures gallery of the Egmore Museum. On the first floor, the trail takes you through the Copper plates bay, the Epigraphy section, the Hindu sculptures gallery, the Amaravati gallery and the Jain sculptures gallery.  

Credits:

Voice: Dr Anita Ratnam

Script: Storytrails Research team

Consulting historians: Dr. Chitra Madhavan, Mr. N. Sundararajan

Free/Paid
Free
Conveyance
90 mins
Timing & Ticketing
Timing

The Egmore Museum is open from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, six days of the week. The Museum is closed on all Fridays and on three national holidays- 26 January, 15 August and 2 October.
Ticket counters close at 4:30 PM.

Ticket

SOUTH INDIAN SCULPTURES GALLERY
Adult (Indian): 15 INR
Child (3-12 years old) (Indian): 10 INR
Bonafide School Student (Indian): 5 INR
Adult (Non-Indian): 250 INR
Child (3-12 years old) (Non-Indian): 125 INR
Bonafide School Student (Non-Indian): 75 INR

Camera tickets
Still camera: 200 INR
Video camera: 500 INR

Before You Go
Photography: Photography is permitted inside the Museum if you buy a camera ticket.
The Egmore Museum is spread across multiple buildings. This trail begins on the ground floor of the Main Block, in the ‘South Indian Sculptures’ gallery. From there, the trail covers the North Indian sculpture bays, the Copper plates gallery, the Epigraphy section, the Hindu Sculptures gallery, the Amaravati gallery and the Jain sculptures gallery.
Museum website: www.govtmuseumchennai.org/museum
Highlights
  • The Egmore Museum is home to the world’s oldest collection of Buddhist sculptures. You will see them on the trail at the Amaravathi gallery.
  • The museum houses a collection of inscribed copper plates, some of which are over 1300 years old.
  • You can see Hero stones that are hundreds of years old: Hero Stones of fallen warriors, Sati Stones of women who immolated themselves on their husband’s pyre and Nishidhi stones of Jains who gave up their life by fasting.

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