Introduction
Apart from being the capital of India, Delhi is a fascinating city with pleasant contradictions. Comprising of Old Delhi and New Delhi, the city is home to famous tourist destinations like the Laxmi Narayan Temple, India Gate, Jama Masjid, Red Fort, Rashtrapati Bhavan, Humayun’s Tomb, and the vivacious shopping bazaar of Chandni Chowk. The museums in Delhi, including National Science Centre, National Museum of Natural History, Nehru Memorial Museum, Nehru Planetarium, National Museum, and National Gallery of Modern Art are also very popular tourist destinations.
National Science Centre
Located at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, this museum is one of the largest and best science centers of National Council of Science Museum (NCSM) with good scientific models, participatory exhibits, and interesting artifacts on display, with the aim to rouse children’s interest in Science.
National Museum of Natural History
The focus of this museum is ecology. The main attractions are the various galleries visitors through the extent of the earth’s natural resource, activity rooms for children and film shows.
Nehru Memorial Museum
After the death of Late Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, his residence was transformed into a museum. The museum is an enthralling place to learn about the history of the Independence Movement from the archive of Newspaper Clippings and Photographs.
There are several photographs of Pt. Nehru, giving an account of his life. Moreover, the colonial building, with its teak paneled rooms with high ceilings, spacious verandas and well-maintained gardens also draws interest.
Nehru Planetarium
Established on 6th February 1984 to promote space education and astronomy among the common people, especially the youth, the planetarium has a good sky theatre accommodating 270 viewers. It screens taped and live public shows on various cosmic topics like cosmic heritage, the solar system or history of a particular star.
National Museum
This museum possesses over 2,00,000 works of exquisite art, both of Indian and Foreign origin covering more than 5,000 years of our cultural heritage. Apart from the collections of Pre-historic Archaeology, Archaeology, Jewelry, Paintings, Decorative arts, Manuscripts, Central Asian Antiquities, Arms and Armor, etc, the museum has separate branches of publication, Hindi, Public Relations, Education, Library, Exhibition cell, Display, Modeling, Photography, Security and Administration.
National Gallery of Modern Art
Situated at Jaipur House, New Delhi, this museum was inaugurated on 29th March, 1954. The erstwhile residential palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur, the museum exhibits around 4,000 paintings, graphics, and sculptures of modern artists.
How to reach
To visit the museums in Delhi, the nearest airport is the Indira Gandhi International Airport located 23 km southwest of Central Delhi and the domestic terminal at Palam is 5 km away from the international terminal. Taxi and coach transfer is available from both International and Domestic Arrivals.
