Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum
| L.D. Museum | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1984 |
| Location | Navrangpura, Ahmedabad [1] |
| Coordinates | 23°12′N 72°20′E / 23.2°N 72.33°E |
| Type | Art museum, Archaeology museum |
History
Ever since its inception in 1956, the Institute has been collecting and preserving rare manuscripts and artifacts of various kinds. The Museum is the product of the vision and energy of the two remarkable persons who were responsible for its establishment: Muni Shri Punyavijayji, an erudite monk scholar, and Sheth Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the well known industrialist of Ahmedabad. As the collection grew over the years the Board of Trustees of the Institute felt strongly the need for a separate museum building to house the display of its collection. Consequently, a new museum building was built as an annexe to the existing building which was also designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Shri Balkrishnabhai Doshi. The collection in the new museum building was opened to the public in 1984.
Location
Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum is located on a spacious campus in the western part of the city in an area dotted with educational and research institutes and in the vicinity of Gujarat University. It is about seven kilometers from the Railway station and twelve kilometers from the airport and is therefore easily accessible from any part of the city.
Madhuri D. Desai Gallery
Smt. Madhuri D. Desai, an art connoisseur, collector and the daughter in-law of the veteran freedom fighter and jurist, Shri Bhulabhai Desai,has been a major donor to the sculpture gallery named after her. The gallery is unique since all the major regional styles of the sub-continent are represented here.
The outstanding pieces include the largest head of Buddha (c. 3rd-4th century) in stucco from Gandhara, the earliest cult image of Lord Rama (early 6th century) Gupta period from Devagadh, Madhya Pradesh.,a rare figure of Mother goddess Aindri (6th century) from Shamlaji (Gujarat), the Adinath bronze image (c. 7th-8th century) from Sirpur (Nr. Nandurbar, Maharastra), the Jaina bronze images from Ghogha (Dist. Bhavnagar, Gujarat) and some of the finest examples of Buddha images from Mathura/ Sarnath, Nalanda and Nepal/ Tibet. Besides, the Madhuri Desai gallery includes some very fine Chola sculptures (c. 10th-12th century) from Tamil Nadu.
Recently has been added a large new showcase displaying nine portrait statues of distinguished personages from Gujarat during the medieval period which include the Solanki King, Maharaja Jaisingh (Siddharaj). The portraits are inscribed with the date of V.S. 1285 = 1228 A.D. and the find spot is Harij (near Patan).
Muni Punyavijayaji Gallery
The Museum has one of the finest collections of paintings in the Gujarati Jain style, some of which are painted before the Mughal period and are displayed in the Muni Punyavijayaji Gallery. The collection has some rare illustrated wooden book covers (patli) created for palm-leaf manuscripts. The Jain pilgrimage painting on cloth executed in 1433 A.D. at Champaner (Gujarat) is the earliest extant example of such a painting on cloth. Similarly, a Vijnaptipatra painted at Agra by the Mughal painter, Ustad Salivahana, in 1610 A.D., is the earliest painted document of its kind. It refers to the Mughal emperor Jehangir’s farman prohibiting the killing of animals in his empire during the Jain festival of Paryushana. Other outstanding examples on show include the illustrated mss.of the Kalakacharyakatha (c.1430) in Mandu style, the Matar Sangrahani sutra (d.1583) painted by Chitara Govinda, the Shripala Rasa (18th century) in the Rajasthani style, and several rare cosmological diagrams called Adhidvipa (c. 1440) and the Jain Siddhachakra yantra. The PunyaVijayaji Gallery also has a section which highlights the age old tradition of wood carving in Gujarat.
P.T. Munshaw Gallery
This gallery has on display a representative collection of historical phases of coinage of India which was posthumously gifted by Smt. Nandiniben Munshaw. The collection includes the earliest punched-marked coin called bentbar (c. 600 B.C.), Akbar’s Din-i-Ilahi coin, Jahangir’s Zodiac series in silver and Adil Shah’s Larin (d.1668)
Shri Arvindbhai Collection
Among the objects gifted by late Shri Arvindbhai and on display are a Chola style Nataraja, (11th century) a Nepali/Tibetan Bronze Mandala, (18th century) an elaborately decorated Chinese/Japanese style cupboard in wood.
Shri Kasturbhai Lalbhai Collection
It consists of a large collection of Indian Drawings obtained from Calcutta. It is represented by a display of one dozen exquisite drawings for Indian Miniature paintings belonging to various regional schools.
L.D. Museum Conservation Laboratory
The modest laboratory has been recently set up where we have facilities for conservation of miniature paintings. Preliminary surface cleaning of stone sculptures and metal objects is also carried out.
Timings
The museum is open on all days, except on Mondays and public holidays, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In summer (from 1 May to 15 June) the museum is open from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
References
- ↑ LD Museum of Indology wikimapia
- ↑ Tourism: Museum Municipal Corporation of Ahmedabad.
- ↑ LD Museum of Art and Archaeology India Guide Gujarat, by Anjali Desai. India Guide Publications, 2007. ISBN 0-9789517-0-0. p 98.