Tag Archives: museum

Located within Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University Campus, Soneri Mahal lies on foothills of Satara mountain range. It is close to the Hanuman Tekri, Aurangabad Caves and Bibi ka Maqbara. Now converted into museum, the mahal is a small building which is said to have been constructed by the Bundelkhand Chief of Aurangzeb, Paharh Singh between 1651 and 1653. Pahar Singh and his family resided in the building but now it houses a variety of ancient Indian pottery, dresses, statues excavated from nearby sites and remains of local palaces and antiques of daily use. As you enter the main building, you will see a number of 18th century paintings on wooden planks on display. Inside the building, the walls were once painted with frescoes made from natural colors with a heavy usage of golden paint from where the building gets its name “Soneri Mahal” – “Golden Palace”. Very few of these frescoes can now be seen on the wall. ASI has done a very shoddy job of recreating some of the frescoes after having white washed all the walls.  The palace is also a venue for the annual Ellora Ajanta Aurangabad Festival held at the end of November.

Here are five tips on how we make our museum trips fun and interesting. While, museums would still be boring for some, these tips work for at least one of us.

The Istanbul Archaeological museums consist of three buildings with three museums – Archaeological Museum, Ancient Orient Museum, Tiled Kiosk Museum. The former two were built in 1891. The tiled kiosk however dates back to 1473. Here are a seven items in Archaeological Museum and Ancient Orient Museum of Istanbul to look out for: 1. Treaty of Kadesh – It is the oldest peace treaty dating to 13th century BC a copy of which hangs at the UN headquarters. The treaty was agreed upon between Egyptian and the Hittite dynasty after the battle of Kadesh known to be the biggest wars of 2. Lions of Ishtar Gate – The Istanbul Archaeology Museum houses lions, bulls and dragons from the Ishtar gate of Babylon dedicated to Goddess of Ishtar. It was the 9th gate in the ancient city of Babylon constructed in about 575 BC by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II. Through the gate ran the Processional Way which was 180 m long and on each side were placed 60 lions each made of glazed bricks. Some of these lions are now in the museum of Istanbul. But most of them are in Berlin where the Ishtar gate has been reconstructed in the Pergamon museum. The Lions of Ishtar gate 3. Oldest Love Poem – 8th Century BC inscription on a tablet from the ancient Babylonian times. The king was required to marry a priestess every year for the fertility of soil and women. The poem is said to have been written by a bride for the king. Shuu Sinn. A cuneiform Tablet Here is the translation of the poem from Istanbul Archaeological Museum: “Bridegroom, dear to my heart, Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet, Lion, dear to my heart, Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet. ………………… Bridegroom, let me caress you, My precious …