The Malliah Memorial Theatre Craft Museum is a famous tourist attraction in New Delhi and a place that all arts and crafts lover should surely visit. It was established by Kamaldevi Chattopadhay in her house during the 1950s and is also known as the “Theatre Crafts museum. She was a freedom fighter and she also was the President of Worlds Crafts Council. It was later shifted to a permanent location.

Features of the Malliah Memorial Theatre Craft Museum

This unique crafts museum is one of the rare museums in the country in the sense that it treasures very ancient and unique Indian theatres’ craft and is also home to age-old ornaments made from pitch, wood, shell, horn and metals. It also displays a wide collection of puppets those which where common in ancient India. This museum also houses different types of masks those are hundreds of years old.

This museum offers its visitors a wide glimpse into the ancient theatre world of India along with various masks those used to signify gods and goddesses and jackets made from silver tissues and various such things.

The production house is the main attraction along with the small workshop where skilled artisans and craftsmen work to recreate the magic of Indian theatre crafts that was lost.

On Exhibit

This museum exhibits collections made from theatres of India and you can also see how these collectibles were used in the past in the Indian theatres. Apart from seeing the wide collection of theatre objects, you can also see the usage of the following in this museum.

• Age old wooden masks of  gods and goddesses made by the Shahi Jatra of Orissa
• Bronze masks and a Mirzai Jacket that was worn by Ravana during Ramlila in the town of Ramnagar
• Beeswax limestone
• Mica and tamarind seeds to make the crown of Ravana

You can also see a series of shadow and stringed puppets here apart from gloves, rods etc. Here you get to see a lot of things that was unknown to you. You can see expert and skilled craftsmen create beautiful masterpieces to revive the lost theatre craft culture in India.

Information for Visitors

• Timings: 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM. It is open all days expect Sundays and national holidays
• Ticket Cost: Entry is free
• Location: Deen Dayal Upadhay Marg, New Delhi
• Attraction: Theatre craft objects

How to Reach

By Road

This museum is well connected to rest of Delhi by taxi and all other local transport like autos and buses and it would not be very difficult for you to reach this place from any corner of the city.

By Air

Indira Gandhi International Airport is well connected to all the other cities of India and all the other cities of the world.  You can easily reach this place once you are in the airport.

By Train

Delhi has an extensive metro railway network and it is connected to all the other parts of the city as well. Rajiv Chowk metro is the nearest metro from this museum.

By Bus

There are various DTC buses that connect this museum with rest of the city.

.