THANJAVUR ART GALLERY

A remarkable collection of South Indian sculptures and paintings is housed in the old palace buildings of Thanjavur (Tanjore).  Thanjavur, which has been an art centre of great importance throughout the entire history of Tamil Nadu, is today a well-known and well patronised centre for bronze sculpture, stonework and paintings.  It was during the time of the Chola dynasty in the 10th and 11th centuries, that the two magnificent temples were built.  They still stand as testimony to the splendid mastery that the Cholas had over architecture.

The Art Gallery at Thanjavur is housed in the former palace of the Nayaks, who were once the viceroys of the Vijayanagara rulers and later became rulers themselves.  The gallery houses a treasured collection of bronze icons, stone sculptures and other artefacts, which today stand testimony to that golden age in Tamil history, when devotion was at an all time high and skills of architecture were patronised by the Cholas.  The examples of art that we see today at this gallery, are the finest.  Most of the pieces belong to Chola period between the 9^th and the 13^th centuries AD, to the post-Chola period and to the Nayak period, from the 17^th to the 18^th century AD. The gallery also houses a few sculptures from the Pallava period.

There is a very interesting story about how the Art Gallery came into existence.  An archaeologist from Calcutta (now Kolkata), Dr. Sivaramamoorthi who noticed an icon in the image of Brahma, wanted to take it to Calcutta.  The local people objected to the icon being taken out of their district.  With the intervention of the then Collector T K Palaniappan, the people agreed to preserve the icon in a suitable place in their district itself.  The Collector then gave instructions to collect all artefacts, sculptures and icons, which were lying left unattended and neglected.  Many of the pieces were found buried, they had been forgotten since the time they were buried inorder to be safeguarded from invaders.  These pieces were put together for being displayed in a museum, which was started on the 9^th of December in the year 1951. 

The collections of stone sculptures and bronze pieces are displayed mainly in three sections, against the backdrop of the Nayak Palace buildings.  The hall with the high dome at the entrance - Pooja Mahal and the hall forming the base of the 'Indira Mandir' (now known as Arsenal tower) have on display, the stone sculptures of Gods in different forms.  The 'Rama Chowdam' hall, which was the private audience hall of the Nayaks has on display the bronze images.

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