India is a country of dreamlike palaces and enchanting gardens, exuberant temples and mysterious legends where everything is as though steeped in sorcery and magic. However, the historical artifacts of India are so massive and majestic that the cities themselves serve as their museums, rather than separate halls inside remarkably spacious buildings. This is the reason why there isn’t a big number of museums and galleries in the country, and if you happen to meet one in an Indian town, you may be sure its collections will surprise even the most loyal admirers of historical and archaeological museums.
One of such keepers of the items of the past is the Dogra Art Museum in Jammu which is devoted to the culture of the people who ruled in the Jammu’s area from the 19th century. Its grand opening happened in 1954 featuring the first president of India, Rajendra Prasad. From 1991, all its unusual collection can be seen in the Pink Hall of the Mubarak Mandi Palace, the former royal residence of the Maharajas of the Dogra dynasty. There are more than 7 000 valuable historical and cultural exhibits including traditional dresses, armors and ancient arms of the Dogra people, rare coins and jewelry, sculptures and terracotta heads from the archaeological excavations of Akhnoor, a town in the vicinity of Jammu, at the foothills of the Himalayas.
The miniature paintings are considered to be the most valuable assets of the museum: Pahari paintings from Basohli dating back to the 17th-19th centuries and a stone plate with inscriptions in Takri Script, the «Book of Kings» manuscript called «Shahnama» which is the world-famous epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi, and «Sikandernama», the «Book of Alexander the Great». In the history of India, Alexander the Great is famous under the name Sikandar. Besides, there are the gold plated bow and arrows belonging to the Mughal Emperor and the «ruler of the world», the descendant of Timur, Shah Jehan, who got world-famous by building the jewel of Muslim architecture, the Taj Mahal.