Hyderabad: City Museum inaugurated

HYDERABAD: The historic city of Hyderabad Sunday added another landmark with the formal inauguration of City Museum, said to be the first of its kind in the country.

The Nizam's Jubilee Pavilion Trust chairman, Prince Muffakham Jah launched the museum, which has come up adjacent to Nizam Museum at Purani Haveli in the old city.

The museum depicts the history of the city, its culture and heritage from the times before its inception to the times of the Qutub Shahis and then Asaf Jahis, popularly known as Nizams to the present times.

The inaugural function, however, was held at Jubliee Hall, which was specially constructed by last ruling Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan for the silver jubilee celebrations in 1936 -37.

The trust came up with the idea of City Museum in view of the long felt need of the tourists to acquaint themselves with the rich history and cultural heritage of Hyderabad, and to project the history of the city.

Muffakham Jah, the grandson of the last ruler of Hyderabad state, said the history of Hyderabad was always over shadowed as most historians tended to focus on Moghul rule.

The museum has brought nearly 4,000 years of history of the city, through archaeological evidence such as the neolithic pots, megalithic sites, European styled terracotta figurines, coins of Satvahana period among others.

This confirms the presence of continuous habitations dating back though the popular thinking is that the Hyderabad was founded in 1591. This exciting development of Hyderabad has been shown for the first time through maps, artifacts, photographs, illustrations, written material and other paraphernalia.

On display for the first time are seven specifically designed maps that trace Hyderabad's fascinating journey from the 13th century to the present times.

There is also a touch screen kiosk that will reveal to the visitors a pictorial history of 50 of the city's "mohallahs (localities)" in English, Hindi, Telugu and Urdu.

The display area sheds light on trade and commerce, weights and measures, textiles, post and communication, transport, education, calligraphy, architecture, art and craft, Hyderabadi cuisine and people.

The artifacts on display include exquisite qahwa cups, encrusted with Golconda diamonds, perfume bottles studded with pearls, ivory walking sticks, beautifully crafted swords and draggers, rare and old stamps and coins, intrinsic silver and filigree objects.