SALAR JUNG MUSEUM

SALAR JUNG MUSEUM

The Salar Jung Museum was established in 1951. The major portion of the collection of the museum was acquired by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, popularly known as Salar Jung III. In the absence of any direct descendants of Salar Jung III, the Government of India appointed a Committee to administer the Salar Jung Estate. Later on with the idea of perpetuating his name, the Salar Jung Museum was brought into existence on December 16, 1951 in Diwan Deodi, the residential palace of Salar Jung III and opened to the public by Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru. In 1958, the Government of India took over the museum through a compromise deed. Till 1958 this museum was administered by the Salar Jung Estate Committee. Thereafter the Museum continued to be administered by the Ministry of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs, Government of India till 1961. In 1961, through an Act of Parliament, the Salar Jung Museum along with its library was declared as an ‘Institution of National Importance’. The administration of the museum was transferred to an Autonomous Board, having the Governor of Andhra Pradesh as its Chairman. Its emblem in black colour has a royal elephant carrying flowers and leaves in the centre of a circle. It has a thick black border, which is circumscribed by the name of the museum and place where it is located  written. The depiction is like that of a old stone engraving.