Natural History Museum

Introduction to the Natural History Museum :

Museums of Kerala are rich repositories of a variety of objects that have immense scientific, historical or artistic value. A trip to any museum is therefore a very enriching experience. The Natural History Museum in Trivandrum, Kerala is no exception and a visit to it will be a very rewarding experience for everyone. It is a must see not only for the people residing in the state but also for all the tourists visiting it.

The Natural History Museum opened its doors to visitors’ way back in the year 1885. However the building in which it is presently housed was constructed only in 1964. It is a modern two storied building. One of the advantages of a visit to this museum is that it may be possible for you to visit two museums on a single trip. This is because the Natural History Museum is located in the nearby vicinity of the more renowned Napier Museum or the Government Art Museum.

The spacious building of the Natural History Museum houses a diverse and rich collection of ethnographic pieces. Animal Skeletons, Stuffed Animals and Birds form part of the exhibit. It is indeed amazing to know that the museum was initially started with the individual collection of General Cullen. He presented his personal collection of minerals and books and that was all that the museum had to be proud of in the earliest stage. However with the passage of years, the stock got richer.

There are several galleries within the Natural History Museum. Each of the galleries is specifically assigned to a particular category of the animal kingdom. Hence there are separate galleries for the Mammals, the birds, the vertebrates, the invertebrates and the skeletons. A library and a laboratory also form part of the museum. The Ethnology Gallery provides valuable insight into the races of mankind along with their place of origins, their distribution and distinctive characteristics.

At the entrance of the Natural History Museum, there are fossils of tree trunks.

The Natural History Museum remains open from Tuesdays to Sundays from 10’o clock in the morning to quarter to five in the evening. However on Wednesdays, it opens only at 1’o clock in the afternoon.