Old Thanjavur Collectorate British-era building houses a museum

Navrang India May 01, 2023

 The colonial collectorate building of Thanjavur is one of the old structures built by the colonial administration to manage the sprawling erstwhile delta district then called Tanjore district comprising present day Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Mayiladuthurai districts. Because of space crunch, the collectorate was shifted over to a new complex near Tamil university in 2015,

Thanjavur old Collectorate building.dtnext.in

The Thanjavur Museum is housed in a building that formerly served as the District Collector's office in the city of Thanjavur. The building was built about 120 years ago in 1900 by British architect Robert Chisol. The building is built in the Saracen style of architecture. Following the relocation of the collector's office which was functioning here, the district administration decided to build a museum based on the Smart City mission at a cost of 9.90 crore.[1] The work was completed and it was opened to the public on January 14, 2023

British era Thanjavur old Collectorate building ,tamil.abplive.com

British era Thanjavur old Collectorate building, thanjavur.info

Above image: British rra building: This strange looking but impressive structure that once housed the collectorate for more a century was built around 1900 in  Indo-Saracenic architecture.This style was pioneered by British architect Robert Fellows Chisholm (11 January 1840 – 28 May 1915). No information is available on the architect and it is likely Chisholm might have designed this building  soon after finishing his major project Laxmi Vilas Palace in Baroda (Vadodara) during 1880–90. In 1902 he returned to England for good. Along with gothic style windows and entrances, Indian architectural features include onion domes, closely spaced stone brackets - corbels all along the outer edge of the first floor roof,  sort of Chhaija below the main center dome, etc. The building is on a big plot of two acres of land. When the recent renovation was on the engineers told the press, they did the job without disturbing the heritage elements in the colonial building. However, they did make a couple of additions matching the old style. Now the building houses  a museum and the open space has an alveary. The museum complex is in its infancy soon, it will be upgraded.(For further reading:  https://www.navrangindia.in/2021/09/thanjavur-old-collectorate-building.html).......................  

 As for the old collectorate building on the Kutcher Road (Court road), it was renovated at a cost of Rs. 9 crores. It was a joint project undertaken by the district administration along with the TMC under the smart city mission. 

In the beginning of this year the renovated building is converted into a heritage museum befitting the antiquity of this city and the region, a center of arts, music and drama.

The exhibits here include  artistic stone sculptures and metal sculptures as this regions is popular for metal iconography including idols of gods, goddesses and related items like different kinds of  lamps, bells, ec.The  erstwhile Chola rulers were not only famous for their innovative construction massive Hindu temples using hard stones,  but also were well versed in the field of  water management  practices and traditional irrigation methods to raise crops, etc.  A 7D movie hall  screens to the visitors the life of the people in this area and the Products from this place that have GT tag.  The space around the old building is converted into a bird park. The aviary will be housing rare bird species brought from around 20 countries besides a few hundred species of birds.  There are birds like various parrots and Macaw. The entire museum is in the development stage, it is believed, in the next 5 to 6 years it may become  a well planned educative museum.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/museum-declared-open/article66377735.ece

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/97000385.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst