History
The Shankar’s International Dolls Museum, located in New Delhi, is a huge collection of dolls, set up by the noted political cartoonist Mr. K Shankar Pillai. The museum is located in the Children's Book Trust building on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, and is accessible through separate entrance. The museum is spread over an area of 5,184.5 sq ft on the third floor of the building.
Shankar’s International Dolls Museum is divided into two sections together having over 160 glass cases. One part has got dolls from Europe, the U.S.A, Australia, New Zealand, Common Wealth of Independent States, while the other are from Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India.
The primary collection is of around 150 types of dolls, dressed in Indian costumes, created within the museum’s workshop. Also present are characters from the Indian dance form Kathakali, complete with flowing costumes. Besides these, there are Boy’s and Girl’s Festival dolls from Japan, replica Dolls of the Queen's collection (UK), Maypole Dance from Hungary, Kabuki and Samurai dolls from Japan, Women's Orchestra from Thailand, and Kandy Perahera from Sri Lanka. The dolls at the museum were also awarded the first prize at the Golden Peacock Feather at the Dolls Biennale that was held in Cracow, Poland in 1980. Indian dolls that were designed at the museum are exchanged for gifts received from abroad, besides being sold to collectors and museums in India and abroad.
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Trivia
The museum currently houses over 6,500 exhibits from almost 85 countries, adding to its international character.
There is also a "clinic" for "sick" dolls, where rare deteriorating dolls are restored.
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