Mumbai (Bombay) - South India and Kerala - page 100

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum)
MUSEUM

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( www.themuseummumbai.com ; K Dubash Marg; Indian/foreigner ?50/300, camera/video ?200/1000;
10.15am-6pm Tue-Sun) Mumbai's biggest and best museum displays a mix of exhibits from all
over India. The domed behemoth, an intriguing hodgepodge of Islamic, Hindu and British
architecture, was opened in 1923 to commemorate King George V's first visit to India
(back in 1905, while he was still Prince of Wales). Its flamboyant Indo-Saracenic style
was designed by George Wittet, who also designed the Gateway of India.
A recent renovation introduced a fascinating new miniature-painting gallery and a new
gallery of contemporary art. Elsewhere, the vast collection includes impressive Hindu and
Buddhist sculpture, terracotta figurines from the Indus Valley, porcelain and some particu-
larly vicious-looking weaponry.
There's an outdoor cafeteria here, and the museum shop is excellent.

University of Mumbai (Bombay University)
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HISTORIC BUILDING

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Looking like a 15th-century French-Gothic masterpiece plopped incongruously amongst
Mumbai's palm trees, this university on Bhaurao Patil Marg was designed by Gilbert
Scott of London's St Pancras Station fame. There is an exquisite University Library and Con-
vocation Hall , as well as the 80m-high Rajabai Clock Tower MAP GOOGLE MAP , decorated with
detailed carvings, however, since the 2008 terror attacks, the public is not allowed inside
the grounds. Admire the architecture on a stroll along Bhaurao Patil Marg (trees obscure
much of the splendour when viewed from the Oval Maidan).

High Court
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(Eldon Rd) A hive of daily activity, packed with judges, barristers and other cogs in the Indi-
an justice system, the High Court is an elegant 1848 neo-Gothic building. The design was
inspired by a German castle and was obviously intended to dispel any doubts about the
authority of the justice dispensed inside, though local stone carvers presumably saw things
differently: they carved a one-eyed monkey fiddling with the scales of justice on one pil-
lar. You are permitted (and it is highly recommended) to walk around inside the building
and check out the pandemonium and pageantry of public cases that are in progress - just
walk right in! You'll have to surrender your camera to the guards, then make your way
through the mazelike building to the original building's courtyard opposite Court 6.

HISTORIC BUILDING