Thursday, February 01, 2007

Bhopal - Museum of Man

If there is one museum that you should definitely visit in India, it just has to be the Museum of Man in Bhopal. We visited it by accident, as we had time, and were in the area. I guess that helps - one does not have very high expectations of the place.

The museum is largely open air, and spread over many acress. There are life size replicas of tribal villages, where one can walk in, and inspect the houses, etc. There is a fantastic myths exhibition. Here, mythological tales from various parts of the country have been recreated in stunning detail. There are explanatory texts in English and Hindi against each of the exhibit. One can spend hours reading the fascinating tribal tales from various nooks of the country, and admiring the stunning craftwork.

Further on in a museum tracing the evolution of man. A lot of information, presented very well. There is another indoor museum, with further details of the various tribes of India, and their lifestyles. A particularly stunning exhibit is a complete wooden residence from Himachal Pradesh. As I walked into this house, I actually felt transported to the Himalayas. Adjacent to the exhibits are TV screens which show documentaries related to that exhibit.

We really enjoyed the time we spent at this museum, and strongly recommend it to anyone visiting Bhopal.

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