Pondicherry museum opening and closing time
Opening Time : 10:00, Closing Time : 17:00
Location: Saint Louis Street(Opposite to Raj Nivas)
Approximate visiting time: 20 min plus traveling time
The Puducherry Museum has an excellent gallery with sculptures and has the remains of archaeological findings from the Arikamedu Roman settlement. One can go through the history and legendary French colonial details in the section of the museum. This Museum is located on Saint Louis Street and is open on all days except Mondays and national holidays between 10:00-17:00 hrs. The museum is located in the former Law Building. The museum has a collection of rare bronzes and stone sculptures from the Pallava and Chola dynasties and artefacts excavated from Arikamedu (an ancient port just 7 kms. from city that had trade links with the Roman empires). The Foyer and Courtyard have various stone statues and a fossilized tree trunk. On the ground floor, the major attraction is the central space with 3 curious transport mechanisms - a coach, a palanquin (sedan chair) and a pousse-pousse (an earlier version of the rickshaw) which required two attendants, one to steer and one to push. The bronze gallery displays the images of gods and goddesses together with a wide collection of temple lamps used across different dynasties down the centuries. Pre-Christian relics which you will find here, such as remnants of Greek and Roman jars, pieces from the Tsung Periods in China and beads made from glass and precious stones were dug out from the Arikamedu site, just south of Puducherry. The museum also has a Geology room, a shell and fossil room and a collection of handicrafts, coins, church relics and French furniture.(Closed on Mondays & National Holidays)
Ananda Ranga Pillai museum opening and closing time
Opening Time: 10:00, Closing Time: 17:00
Location: Ananda Rangapillai Street, Puducherry.
Ananda Ranga Pillai was the celebrated dubash of Dupleix, the governor of Puducherry while it flourished under the French glory. On Ananda Ranga Pillai's death, his diaries came into the possession of his nephew Tiruvengadam Pillai who appears to have maintained a series of records of his own till the beginning of 1770. Subsequent generations of the family had discarded it until the manuscript was recovered in a decrepit state by Gallois Montburn, the Mayor of Pondicherry in 1846 and a scholar of Oriental languages; he immediately set upon translating the manuscript to French. However, when the translated manuscript was being edited a number of gaps were discovered. The gaps were supplemented when volumes one and two of Ananda Ranga Pillai's diary were found. These were subsequently translated into French in 1870 and 1889. In 1894, Julien Vinson, Professor of the Special School of Livino-Oriental Languages at Paris who had published the second translation (which was, obviously, incomplete) published a supposed full translation of Ananda Ranga Pillai's diaries titled “Les Français dans l'Inde”, In 1892, the existence of the diary was brought to the notice of Lieutenant General H. Macleod, the British Consular Agent in Pondicherry. At the direction of Lord Wenlock, the then Governor of Madras, an English translation of the diary from Montbrun's copy was attempted. This was completed in 1896. Pillai's compilation of diaries serves as a storehouse of information on the 18th century French India. His mansion, completed sometime in 1738, is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the west side - then known as "natives' quarters". Its architecture represents a curious mix of French and Indian styles.
Bharathidasan museum opening and closing time
Opening Time: 10:00, Closing Time: 17:00
Location: 95, Perumal koil street, Puducherry.
The Bharathidasan Museum, on No. 95 PerumalKoil Street, is the former house of the renowned Puducherry born poet and playwright - Bharathidasan (1891-1960) (meaning "Disciple of Bharathi"). Bharathidasan's poems are comparable with Bharathi's poem both in literary achievement and poetic fervour. He also wrote scripts for films on issues such as Dravidian culture and the rights of women.
Bharathidasan museum opening and closing time
Opening Time: 09:00, Closing Time: 19:00
Location: Rangapillai street, Puducherry.
On 16 May 1827, the library was opened by Desbassyns de Richemont. In 1884, it was located near the Ateliers des Ponts-et-Chaussees (present P.W.D.). Later, it was transferred to Rue des Capucins (Romain Rolland Street).In the beginning, it was open only to Europeans, but, after 1837, natives were allowed in the reading room so that they could acquire a good knowledge of the French language. In 1852, a section of Archives was created as an adjunct of the library. In 1935, the library had about 25,000 volumes. In 1942 a museum was added. On 27 August 1967, the birth centenary of the Great French Scholar Romain Rolland - a contemporary and close friend of Mahatma Gandhi, the library was renamed Romain Rolland Library; in 1974, it was shifted to its present location.The Romain Rolland library, now has a rich collection of more than 3,00,000 volumes of books both in French and in English. The Library, earlier known as 'Bibliotheque Publique', is one of the oldest Libraries in the country and the biggest in the Union Territory. The books in the various administrative establishments formed the nucleus of this Library which was enriched in course of time with further additions through proper financial allocations in the budget.More than 45,000 adult members are utilizing the Library and nearly 2,00,000 books are annually loaned to the readers. Apart from this, nearly 190 periodicals are being subscribed to and is indeed heartening to note that on an average about 1,000 readers are making use of the reading room facilities every day. Recently the Library has not only developed in size, but has improved its service by making available a large number of books, and by opening more sections to render all possible help to the reading public.The Children's Section aims to foster the reading habit among the members of the younger generation. Children in the age group of 4 to 14 are admitted to this Section. More than 7,000 students of various schools make use of this section by enrolling as members. Books are selected according to the taste of the age groups, such as picture books, story books, travel, adventures, classic and books of elementary level. The Section works from 4.00 pm. to 7.00 pm. But on Saturdays and Sundays when schools have their weekly holidays and also during vacations this Section functions from 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 pm and 4.00 pm. to 7.00 pm.The Rare Book section has a collection of about 15,000 old and rare books. Scholars from all parts of the country and even from the distant lands in the West visit this Library to carry on their research work with the aid of its rare collection. Unfortunately these rare books are very old and too brittle to handle. Hence the process for Micro-filming had been initiated to save them for posterity and the unit is now functional.It also boasts of a mobile library service which has a collection of more than 8,000 books taken to the nearby villages by bus, in order to make the books more accessible to the common man. The library also houses some rare editions of books. They have an air conditioned reading room and an ordinary room where newspapers and magazines can be read. The reference section on the second floor is open to the general public.Timings Daily: 9:00am - 12:30pm & 4:00pm - 7:00pm Children's Section Weekdays: 4:00pm - 7:00pm Weekends: 9:00am - 12:30pm & 4:00pm - 7:00pm
