The Bapu Museum (formerly: Victoria Jubilee Museum) is an archaeological museum, located at M. G. Road of

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

. It was renamed in the memory of the renowned film director, illustrator, cartoonist and author Bapu. The museum is maintained by the Archaeological department and has large collection of sculptures, paintings and artifacts of

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

relics, with some of them as old as 2nd and 3rd Centuries. The structure of building is an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

style of architectural and is more than a hundred years old structure. Bapu museum 21

History

The museum was created as part of the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. The foundation stone was laid by Robert Sewell, District Collector of Krishna district, on 27 June 1887. Sri Pingali Venkayya presented a tri-colour flag to

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

at this location in 1921. The building initially housed industrial exhibitions. It was converted to an archaeological museum under the auspices of the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in 1962.

Paintings and relics

The museum has historical galleries, stone cut writings, coins, swords, body armour, shields, arms, ornamentation, etc., used by kings. A standing

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

of white limestone of Alluru (3rd–4th century), Lord

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

and Goddess

Durga Durga ( sa, दुर्गा, ) is a major Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the mother goddess Mahadevi. She is associated with protection, strength, motherhood, destruction, and wars. Durga's legend centres around c ...

as slaying the buffalo demon,

Mahishasura Mahishasura is a bovine asura in Hinduism. He is depicted in literature to be a deceitful demon who pursued his evil ways by shape-shifting. Mahishasura was the son of Mahisi (Buffalo) and the great-grandson of Brahmarshi Kashyapa. He was ultima ...

(2nd century) can also be found at the museum.

References

{{authority control 1887 establishments in India Museums established in 1887 Museums in Andhra Pradesh Tourist attractions in Vijayawada Archaeological museums in India Tourist attractions in Krishna district