Government Museum, Bangalore

Government Museum, Bangalore established in 1865 by the Mysore State with the guidance of Surgeon Edward Balfour who founded the museum in Madras and supported by the Chief Commissioner of Mysore, L.B. Bowring is one of the oldest museums in India and the second oldest museum in South India.

The museum is flanked by the Visvesvaraya Industrial And Technological Museum and the Venkatappa Art gallery. The museum is located centrally on Kasturba road. The museum is built in 1877 in the neoclassical architectural style.

The museum has two exhibition floors which are divided into 18 galleries. The galleries cover sections that span sculpture, natural history, geology, art, music and numismatics.

The museum is an archaeological museum and has a rare collection of archaeological and geological artifacts including old jewellery, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. The museum has 70 paintings, 84 sculptures, and hundreds of other artifacts, some of which unique to the museum. The museum has sculpture from the Hoysala, Gandhara and Nolamba periods.

The museum has a model of Srirangapatna, the fort of Tipu Sultan. There is a slab in the museum from Tipu's times that has 12 persian couplets. The museum also showcases various old musical instruments. A Tanjore style framework of 64 Nayanamars is a unique piece found here.

The museum is open for a visit on all days from 10 AM to 5 PM apart from National and State Holidays.