Museum · Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS)
Mumbai's main museum, opened in 1922 as the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. About 50,000 objects across art, archaeology and natural history.
See first
- Indian miniature painting: Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari and Deccani
- Sculpture from Elephanta and the Gupta terracottas from Mirpurkhas
- The Krishna Gallery
- The Indus Valley gallery
- The Ratan Tata and Dorab Tata collections
The museum was planned in 1904 to mark a royal visit, and the Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone in November 1905. George Wittet, who would later design the Gateway of India, won the commission. The building, of grey Kurla basalt and buff Malad stone, was finished in 1915 and promptly used as a military hospital through the First World War. It opened as a museum on 10 January 1922 and took its present name in 1998.
The art section rests on three gifts: the collection of Sir Purushottam Mavji, acquired in 1915, and those of Sir Ratan Tata and Sir Dorab Tata, given in 1921 and 1933. The miniature collection covers the main schools of Indian painting. The sculpture includes fifth-century Gupta terracottas from Mirpurkhas in Sindh and Rashtrakuta work from Elephanta, a boat ride away.
The Krishna Gallery, opened in 2009, gathers works about a single god across media and centuries. It is a good way in.