DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum

DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum sits on East Coast Road at Muttukadu, about 35 kilometres south of central Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India, on the route to Mahabalipuram. It is a living-history museum of the cultural heritage of South India, and instead of conventional glass cases it presents traditional buildings, crafts and performances in an open campus of landscaped lanes and courtyards.

The core of the museum is a collection of relocated and reconstructed traditional houses from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Visitors can walk through a Chettinad mansion with carved doors and pillars, a Kerala tiled-roof home, a Karnataka village dwelling and an Andhra weaver's house, each furnished with period household items, utensils and tools. Galleries and craft zones show textiles, terracotta, bronze, wood and stone carving, puppetry, folk art and musical instruments. Resident artisans demonstrate pottery, weaving, painting and other techniques, and visitors can often watch work in progress and buy pieces from the craft shop. Weekends bring dance, music and puppet performances in the open theatre areas.

A visit takes three to four hours, and the grounds involve a fair amount of walking in the open, so the cooler months from November to February and weekday mornings are most comfortable. The museum is open daily from 10:00AM to 6:00PM and closed on Tuesdays, with the ticketing page listing a 5:00PM close, so arriving before midday is advisable. Indian adults pay about 100 rupees on weekdays and 120 rupees at weekends, while foreign nationals pay about 250 rupees, with student rates for ages 13-18.

The campus is reached by app cab or by an East Coast Road bus toward Mahabalipuram, getting down at Muttukadu. The nearby Muttukadu boat house and beaches make a pleasant add-on, and the museum fits well into a day trip to Mahabalipuram. Visitors should carry water, a hat and sunscreen, and plan lunch at the campus restaurant or nearby, since options are limited around the site.