The Best of Egmore Museum, Chennai

The Egmore Museum in Chennai is the second oldest museum in India. It is home to a remarkable collection of stone sculptures, prehistoric artefacts and exquisite bronzes. Carved over 2000 years ago, the Amaravati Marbles are the earliest examples of Buddhist art in the world. In an adjoining bay, 1500-year-old inscriptions hold clues as to how languages evolved. Burial urns and potshards from Keeladi and Adichanallur give us a glimpse into life in ancient Tamil settlements. And the museum’s collection of bronze sculptures from the Chola period is priceless and unmatched.
Lend an ear to their stories and you will experience history like never before. Explore all this and more on this selection of the best stories from the Egmore Museum.

Consultant Historian: Dr Dayalan, Archaeological Advisor to Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, Former Director, Archaeological Survey of India

Signage Consultants: Cityworks

THIS FREE AUDIO TOUR IS BROUGHT TO YOU THANKS TO THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF PANDO.
Visit pando.ai to learn more about them.

We thank Tamil Nadu Tourism and the Department of Museums for their support in making this audio tour possible.

Free/Paid
Free
Conveyance
Timing & Ticketing
Timings
    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.
Tickets

You will have to buy a ticket to enter the museum. There are different rates for Indians and for foreign visitors. There are also student rates, for which you must carry your student ID.


The applicable rates are:

    Adult (Indian) Rs. 15/-
    Children (3 to 12 years) (Indian) Rs. 10/-
    Bonafide School Students (Indian) Rs. 5/-


    Adult (Non-Indian) Rs. 250/-
    Children (3 to 12 years) (Non-Indian) Rs. 125/-
    Bonafide Students (Non-Indian) Rs.75/-


Camera tickets

    Still camera: 200 INR
    Video camera: 500 INR


    *Please check the Museum website (www.govtmuseumchennai.org/museum) before your visit for any changes/ further updates regarding holidays, timings and ticket prices.
Photography is permitted inside the Museum if you buy a camera ticket.
The Egmore Museum is spread across multiple buildings. This trail begins at the Museum Theatre, and then covers the Archaeology Galleries, which consists of the Stone sculptures gallery, Copper plates gallery, Amaravati gallery, the Epigraphy section, amongst others. The next stop is the Anthropology building, which houses the Adichanallur gallery, the Indus Valley Civilisation gallery and the Ethnology gallery. The trail concludes at the Bronze gallery building.
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 Amaravati gallery.
  • - The Bronze gallery is considered to have one of the most exquisite collections of bronze sculptures from the Chola era.
  • -The Adichanallur Gallery in the Anthropology Building houses a wealth of artefacts from an Iron Age civilisation.
Story of the Egmore Museum
The greatest Chola kings
Ardhanarishvara
The oldest settlements in south India
The discovery of Amaravati
Kali
How did scripts evolve in India?

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