Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum

Ever since its inception in 1956, the Institute has been collecting and preserving rare manuscripts and artifacts of various kinds. The Museum is the product of the vision and energy of the two remarkable persons who were responsible for its establishment: Muni Shri Punyavijayji, an erudite monk scholar, and Sheth Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the well known industrialist of Ahmedabad. As the collection grew over the years the Board of Trustees of the Institute felt strongly the need for a separate museum building to house the display of its collection. Consequently, a new museum building was built as an annexe to the existing building which was also designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Shri Balkrishnabhai Doshi. The collection in the new museum building was opened to the public in 1984.Smt. Madhuri D. Desai, an art connoisseur, collector and the daughter in-law of the veteran freedom fighter and jurist, Shri Bhulabhai Desai,has been a major donor to the sculpture gallery named after her. The gallery is unique since all the major regional styles of the sub-continent are represented here.The outstanding pieces include the largest head of Buddha (c. 3rd-4th century) in stucco from Gandhara, the earliest cult image of Lord Rama (early 6th century) Gupta period from Devagadh, Madhya Pradesh.,a rare figure of Mother goddess Aindri (6th century) from Shamlaji (Gujarat), the Adinath bronze image (c. 7th-8th century) from Sirpur (Nr. Nandurbar, Maharastra), the Jaina bronze images from Ghogha (Dist. Bhavnagar, Gujarat) and some of the finest examples of Buddha images from Mathura/ Sarnath, Nalanda and Nepal/ Tibet. Besides, the Madhuri Desai gallery includes some very fine Chola sculptures (c. 10th-12th century) from Tamil Nadu.Recently has been added a large new showcase displaying nine portrait statues of distinguished personages from Gujarat during the medieval period which include the Solanki King, Maharaja Jaisingh (Siddharaj). The portraits are inscribed with the date of V.S. 1285 = 1228 A.D. and the find spot is Harij (near Patan)