Delhi Dolls Museum
Location : Nehru House, 4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi
Timings : 10 am -6 pm, Closed on Monday
About the museum
International Dolls Museum in Delhi has the largest collections of costume dolls on for public display in the world. Spread in area of 5,184.5 sq ft, the museum was set up by a renowned political cartoonist, K Shankar Pillai in year 1965. The museum was inaugurated by Dr. S. Radhakrishnan who started it with 500 dolls but between 1965 and 1987 the number rose to 5,000, majority of which were gifted by various countries. This vast collection is classified into two collections. One section displays exhibits from European countries, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Commonwealth of Independent States, other section displays dolls of Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India. It has a representative collection from over 150 kinds of authentic Indian costume dolls designed at its very own dolls workshop attached inside the museum premises. Every doll is made with utmost perfection after a lot of research to produce a piece with physical attributes, costume and ornaments. Tourists can also learn the art of doll making in theses work shops.
The dolls have also won the First prize, the Golden Peacock Feather at the Dolls Biennale held in Cracow, Poland, in 1980.Among the major attractions of this museum includes dolls from Japan popularly known as Kabuki and Samurai dolls, replica dolls of Maypole Dance from Hungry, Queens collection from UK, Flamenco dancers from Spain, Kandy Pehara from Sri Lanka and Womens Orchestra from Thailand.
The Dolls Museum is considered as a mandatory pit stop on every tourist list not just for children’s but also adults. It’s an unforgetful experience of life to view such huge collection of vibrant dolls from all the corners of the world, each one representing a different form of art, dance, clothes, culture and tradition of their countries.
Dolls museum is a perfect place to visit for all ages and people from any walk of life Its an enduring experience to see the most unique collection of dolls which is no where to be found any where else in the world.