Dakshinchitra Heritage Museum Chennai
DakshinaChitra Museum, East Coast Road, Muttukadu, Kanchipuram
DakshinaChitra is an exciting cross cultural living museum of art, architecture, lifestyles, crafts and performing arts of South India. The main mission is to exhibit, promote and preserve aspects of the broader, more inclusive cultures of the states and to bring these arts to the public in a participative, enjoyable and engaging way. DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum, a project of Madras Craft Foundation an NGO was opened to the public on December 14th 1996. The Museum is located overlooking the Bay of Bengal, at Muttukadu, twenty five kilometers south of Central Chennai, on the East Coast Road to Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India.
DakshinaChitra has a collection of 18 authentic historical houses with contextual exhibitions in each house. All the houses bought and reconstructed at DakshinaChitra had been given for demolition by their owners. The authentic homes in a regional vernacular style are purchased, taken down, transported and reconstructed by artisans (Stapathis) of the regions from where the houses came
We preserve, promote and present the rich cultural heritage of South India through curated permanent exhibits and a variety of public programming. Some of these include:
•Traditional homes from different regions of South India have been purchased, dismantled and relocated at DakshinaChitra .The lifestyle of the communities that lived in these houses has been exhibited in each house. You can explore 18 heritage houses, amble along recreated streetscapes, explore contextual exhibitions, interact with typical village artisans and witness folk performances set in an authentic ambience. DakshinaChitra literally means – “a picture of the south”.
•We promote crafts through hands on activities and workshops for our visitors.
•Learning based special activities for students and children (both rural and urban) are organized regularly to help increase their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of South India.
•Craft shop and crafts bazaar: We network with a wide number of craftsmen, artisans, artists, Self Help Groups and NGOs to give their products a wider platform. We also offer design advice and marketing advice to interested groups to make their products competitive.
•We organise workshops on craft & textiles, art and folk performances for students, children, adults and educators and encourage them to use traditional skills to meet contemporary needs. …
•We host regular folk performances at DakshinaChitra and involve the performers in interactive programs and workshops to improve the quality of the performances. Through these efforts we strive to encourage them to continue with their art, improve the performances and to introduce them to a larger market.….
•We organise collaborative International seminars to create platforms to sustain dialogue about issues of culture in our globalising World….
Our Vision
To inspire people to new ways of looking at South India's cultural traditions and their connections to the present and to the future.
Our Mission
To aid directly in the communication and promotion of the rich and diverse cultures of India, with particular emphasis on the cultures of the people of the South.
