Govt. Museum - Ajmer
Situated in the heart of old city and close to the railway station, the museum is housed in the beautiful fort and palace built by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1616 AD. What is today commonly known as Magazine is the palace quarters where the emperors lived. After the British occupation in 1818 AD and during the first world war of Independence in 1857 AD, it was used as the Rajputana Arsenal by the British, which gave the name Magazine .The Museum was started in 1908 AD by the Government of India with the object of collecting and preserving many unique objects of antiquarian interest,, which were lying uncared for and scattered all over Rajasthan.The Rajputana Museum as it is significantly named, has in its galleries important exhibits from almost all the princely states.There is a library attached to his museum, which contains rare books and important historical publications.The museum s main sections are devoted to sculptures, epigraphs, prehistoric antiquities, arms and weapons. Besides, there are objects from Adhai-din-ka-Jhonpara and other exhibits lying in various godowns forming a large reserve collection.Sculptures constitute the most interesting section in this museum.The collection is enormously rich and varies from periods ranging from the Gupta to the late Medieval period. Mention should be made here of the interesting Chaturmukh Shivlinga, Marriage of Lord Shiva from Kaman, Lingodbhava Mahesvara from Harshnath and other fine Shiva-Parvati panels from Katara (Bharatpur) and Kusma (Sirohi).There are a number of Surya ,Vishnu (including a Trimurti ) Hari Hara Lakshmi-Narayan, Revanta, Kuber and Mother & child images in the collection. Of the female divinities, the Saptamatrikas, Mahisasur-Mardini, Kali, Jain Saraswati and early independent icon of various mother goddesses deserve special mention. An excellent collection of sculptures from the Chauhan centre of Baghera (10th, 12th AD) in Ajmer District, are also preserved here. A fine collection of Tirthankara images and rare images of Gomukha Yaksha and Saraswati are also on display in the Jain gallery of this museum. Compared with this, there are only a few Buddhist objects in the museum. The artistic genius and wonderful craftsmanship of ancient Rajasthan, are reflected in the vast collection of the museum.