Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai
Gandhi Memorial Museum, established in 1959, is a memorial museum for Gandhi located in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. Known as Gandhi Museum, it is now one of the five Gandhi Sanghralayas (Gandhi Museums) in the country. It includes a part of the blood-stained garment worn by Gandhi when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse.
History
Years after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 an appeal was made to the citizens of India nationwide to build memorials for Gandhi. With the help of contributions from poor and rich citizens of India, a trust was established with the name Mahatma Gandhi National Memorial Trust, for this cause. This museum was inaugurated by the former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 15 April 1959. Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai comes under the Peace Museums Worldwide selected by United Nations Organisation(UNO).[1] The palace of Rani Mangammal has been renovated and converted into the museum.
Collections in the Museum
A Original letter written personally by Gandhi to Narayanan Sathsangi of Devakottai. A congratulatory message sent by Gandhi to freedom fighter and poet Subramania Bharati is also preserved in this museum. Yet another interesting letter is the one, written by the Mahatma to Adolf Hitler addressing him as Dear Friend.
India Fights for Freedom
Special Exhibition on "India Fights for Freedom" with 265 illustrations, depicting the history of the Freedom Movement.
Visual Biography of Gandhiji
Located in a quiet place, it is a very good memorial of Gandhiji, it contains a "Visual Biography of Bapuji" containing photos, paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, quotations and some of the selected Photostat copies of many of letters written by him and some of his renderings. This section contains 124 rare photographs depicting various phases of Mahatma Gandhi right from his childhood days until being taken to the crematorium. The pictures displayed here are carefully selected making viewers remember the importance of a national leader, who lived his life as an example to all.
Relics and Replicas
This section contains 100 original artifacts used by Gandhiji. There is a Blood Stained Cloth of Mahatma Gandhi used by him on the day of his assassination, although it is also said that this is only a replica and not the original. It is conserved inside a vacuum glass box, making us remember the importance of that day in the history of India.
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gandhi Museum, Madurai. |
- http://www.gandhimuseum.org/
- http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/in-search-of-gandhis-footprints/article3941622.ece
Coordinates: 9°55′48″N 78°08′19″E / 9.929923°N 78.138593°E