Four domes coming up atop Salar Jung Museum

With the near completion of four domes atop the Western and Eastern blocks of the Salar Jung Museum, the otherwise plain looking building is all set to vie with its neighbours; the Osmania General Hospital and the High Court nearby in terms of architectural splendour.

Ironical it may sound but the museum that houses the world’s biggest one-man collections of antiques of Nawab Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Salar Jung III (1889-1949), former prime minister of the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan has often been criticised for not having a distinct character, in terms of the building structure. While nearby buildings in the old city stood tall with a blend of Indian and Persian architecture, the museum was a plain building bereft of the ubiquitous onion-shaped domes that are a prominent feature of the buildings in Hyderabad.

Three domes were built in the central building in 2003-04 period and now with the near completion of the remaining four domes on the Eastern and Western blocks, the museum will now have a distinct character of its own, says A Nagender Reddy, director, Salar Jung Museum.

In all there would be seven domes, each costing Rs 8 lakh. The work is expected to be completed by the month end. Presently, cladding work is going on and the domes would be covered with glass mosaic tiles. Nagender Reddy says, “It is free of maintenance. One shower is enough for the dust to get washed away.” Nawab Kasim Ali is the architect for the project.

Shabnam, a research scholar in Ancient Indian History says, “Anywhere one looks in the old city, the buildings have domes. The museum, until 2002 was just a plain building. Earlier even dignitaries who visited the museum used to talk about its lack of character. Not anymore.”