If you like local Indian arts and crafts, we will take you to see items of beauty at the National Crafts Museum, New Delhi, before visiting 2 handicraft markets which sell souvenirs to take back home.
The National Crafts Museum, New Delhi
The National Crafts Museum, also known as the National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy, is located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the largest arts and crafts museums in India. Established in 1956, it has housed collections of arts and crafts from various regions of India for public to study. It is also used to preserve the art of traditional craftsmanship. The museum currently has more than 35,000 works of art in its collection, ranging from paintings, embroidery, woven fabrics, in addition to artworks made from clay, stone and wood.
The charm of this museum is not all about the art displays themselve, but more on how each display inspires creativity – leading to the creation of new artwork – in conjunction with the fact that the museum also serves as an institute for learning Indian arts and crafts.
The museum’s space is divided into sections, starting with an area for displaying local arts and crafts that was designed to be contemporary; whilst combining artistic details such as walls decorated with paintings, and the use of sculptures and terra-cotta tiles for decoration. The said section is divided into rooms designated to Folk and Tribal Gallery, Cultic Objects and Courtly Craft Gallery and Textile Gallery.
Interesting works of art on display are the Bhoota Collection consisting of wood carvings of 200-300 years old from Karnataka, Dushalas textiles of over 300 years old from Kashmir province, and embroidered cloths from Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat provinces.
