State Museum

Hyderabad


This sprawling museum is in a fanciful Indo-Saracenic building constructed by the seventh nizam as a playhouse for one of his daughters. It hosts a collection of important archaeological finds as well as an exhibit on the region's Buddhist history. There's an interesting decorative arts gallery, where you can learn about the art of bidriware, or inlaid metalwork, and kalamkari textile painting, plus a bronze-sculpture gallery and a 4500-year-old Egyptian mummy.