The Salar Jung Museum

The Salar Jung Museum is an art museum on the southern bank of the Musi river in the city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India has an exqusite collection of priceless articles like Ivory, Marble sculptures.
The museum opened to the public on December 16, 1951; it is the worlds largest one man collection of artifacts it houses the collection of the Salar Jung family, who were important nobles in the courts of the Nizams — Muslim rulers of Hyderabad. The collection of Islamic art from all over Asia includes a variety of illuminated Korans, astrolabes, jewelled swords and daggers, and Persian carpets. The museum also houses fine examples of European painting and sculpture, most famously the "Veiled Rebecca" of Italian sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni, as well as Chinese and Japanese pieces. The collection was mostly acquired by Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, also known as Salar Jung III. Some of the items he inherited were collected by his father, Nawab Mir Laiq Khan (Salar Jung II) and his grandfather, Nawab Mir Turab Ali Khan (Sir Salar Jung I).
The Museum has 40,000 pieces spread over 78 rooms of Dewan Devdi, an ancestral city palace. Among the prized collections are: veiled Rebecca, Jehangir's dagger, Noorjahan's fruit knife, Yaquti-ul-Mastami's 12th century Quran, The Clock and the Man-woman statue.The collection is varied from books, to porcelian, to guns, to swords, to statues from aound the world.The must-see items are Veiled Rebecca (sculpted from white marble) and a 100 year-old clock. The clock still in working condition is a special attraction for children, as a bird comes out at every hour.The Indian Parliament has declared the museum an Institution of National Importance.The museum is open from 10:00 to 17:00 (except on Fridays).