History
Tipu Sultan Museum is present in the Daria Daulat Bagh in Srirangapatna. Present in the palace itself, the museum displays artifacts and things related to the Maratha ruler, Tipu Sultan. The collection of the museum consists of oil paintings, aquatints, pencil sketches and engravings, along with specimens of coins and medals from his age, costumes, weapons, furnishings, etc.
There are various portraits of Tipu Sultan in the museum like the one painted by G.F. Cherry in 1792 and the other by John Zoffany, who completed the painting in 1780s. To add to these, there are total eighteen pencil sketches on exhibit and among them seven are of Tipu Sultan’s seven sons. Sketches of his other important people or relatives are also present here. And all these sketches are believed to have been made by Thomas Hickey the English artist, in Srirangapatna and Vellore, from 1799-1801.
Visitors can even see an exhaustive collection of coins in the museum which possesses Double paisa, Half paisa, Paisa, Quarter paisa and One-eighth paisa issued by Tipu Sultan from diverse mints at Bangalore, Chitaldurg, Calicut, Gooty, Dindigul and Srirangapatna. Medals of diverse metals like copper, silver and bronze issued by the English celebrating their victory over Tipu are also exhibited in the museum.
In addition to these one can see a set of clothes Tipu used to wear: a silk coat, a straw hat, and a pajama. Two silver bowels gifted by him to the Ranganathaswami temple, furnishings consisting of chairs, sofa, etc too decorate the museum.
The museum gives its visitors a great deal of information about the life the great leader led!
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