Napier Museum

Top choice in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum)


Housed in an 1880 wooden building designed by Robert Chisholm (a British architect whose Fair Isle–style version of the Keralite vernacular shows his enthusiasm for local craft), this museum holds an eclectic display of bronzes, Buddhist sculptures, temple carts, ivory carvings and a wood-carved model of Kerala's famous Guruvayur temple. The architectural style fuses neo-Gothic and Keralan elements, and the carnivalesque interior is worth a look in its own right.