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Government Museum Thirukokarnam
Government Museum at Thirukkokaranam is situated in the suburbs of Pudukkottai in Tamilnadu State , just 5 km distance from Pudukkottai town. It has good collection of artefacts and rare material in the areas of general arts and science, many of them describing the cultural history of this region of Tamilnadu.
History
Tamilnadu District Museums are organised as multipurpose Museums to collect, preserve and exhibit the artistic, cultural and science related objects for the benefit of educating and entertaining the public. Among the twenty District Museums, the Government Museum Thirukokarnam( also referred as Thirugokarnam to mean the ‘of the ear of the cow’) near Pudukkottai was established in the year 1910.Thondaiman of Pudukkottai, erstwhile ruler of thePudukkottai Princely State was responsible for opening this museum for the benefit of the public. It is considered the second versatile Museum among Tamilnadu museums.
The Government of Tamilnadu took efforts to renovate this museum in 2004 and the Public works department which is controlling the museum buildings has done all the work to make a beautiful venue to preserve and display the antiques already possessed by the museum.
The renovation work was done carefully keeping old structure intact and preserving aesthetic aspects involved in maintaining the 200 year old antiquity of the museum building, which was earlier a Palace, referred as the Little Palace where Thondaimans of Pudukkottai used to camp during his temple visit to ShriBrahadambal Temple of Pudukkottai. The building was later donated by the Thondaiman of that time to house a museum displaying items of importance relating to history of Pudukkottai. The museum later came under the Government of Tamilnadu administration, when the Estate abolition measures were taken up by the Government in 1948.
Collections and Items Displayed
Government Museum Thirukokarnam displays objects of cultural and other natural resources of Pudukkottai area, which include
- a variety of invertebrates, different kinds of birds, about 200 in numberspecies, bird eggs, fish varieties, variety of snakes, different kind of mammals,
- art objects, that include wood carvings, wonders in textiles, remarkable paintings, ancient pictures, differently designed musical instruments,
- Tools and implements belonging to pre-historic period, which also include weapons of various kinds,
- Amazing variey of ornaments, with different art works, some of them describing the culture of the corresponding periods
- Many historical records, some in copper plates,
- Carefully sculptured items of stone, bronze etc, beautiful bronzes, coins etc
- Potteries belonging to the first century of the present era.
Among the rich collections this museum has, there are gazetteers written in Palm leaves in Tamil language in 1813 describing erstwhile PudukottaiSamasthanam, giving details of various parts of infrastructure such as irrigational tanks, the pattern of trade and commerce those days etc.
How to Reach
Thirukkokaranam is right at the outskirts of Pudukkottai town, which is reachable by road from any part of Tamilnadu, while the nearest airport is at Tiruchirappalli, which is an international airport. Tiruchirappalli is of 50 km distance from Thirukkokarnam.
Pudukkottai has a railway station, although Tiruchirappalli Railway junction is the major point to travel long distances
Timings and Ticket Prices
Like all the museums of Tamilnadu, this museum also observes working hours from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm, on all days of the week, with the exception of Fridays, Second Saturdays and National Holidays.
Entrance fee to the museum is Rs 5 for adults, Rs 3 for the Children and Rs 2 for the Teachers and Students of Schools. Expartriates are charged Rs 100 for the visit.
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