The Museum at Teen Murti Bhavan has been developed primarily as a museum attributed to the multi-faceted personality of Jawaharlal Nehru. During Jawaharlal Nehru's long stewardship of the government of independent India, Teen Murti House was associated with many momentous developments and became the centre of the movement for the country's regeneration and its economic and social reconstruction. It came to be virtually identified with his name.
Presented through the visual media, the Museum showcases and highlights the life and work of Jawaharlal Nehru especially in the context of the struggle for India's independence. Nehru's ideas and life as well as different aspects of the Indian freedom movement are portrayed in the Museum.
Some of the rooms, such as Nehru's bedroom, the drawing-room and study have been preserved as they were during his lifetime. In a ground floor room, his South Block office in the Ministry of External Affairs has been 'recreated' with the same furniture and other articles he used. Several mementoes, objects and manuscripts are also displayed.
The Museum portrays vividly the life and work of a man who was not only the leader of India's struggle for independence and the architect of free India, but an ardent champion of world peace. It provides an intimate glimpse of Nehru's versatile personality - the statesman, the book lover, the historian, educator, the idealist, a man of strong family affections, a warm friend, an ardent nationalist and a world citizen. It is not only a place where people come to pay homage to the departed leader, it also serves to underline the values and ideals cherished by Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Museum possesses rare artifacts and has preserved and displayed rare pages from important manuscripts. It ingeniously displays a series of inter-linked exhibitions depicting the different phases of colonial history as well as the epic story of our struggle for freedom through contemporary photographs, photocopies of manuscripts, letters, newspapers, periodicals and other documentary materials. Significant events portrayed in the exhibitions are India's response to the West; Revolt of 1857; genesis of the Indian National Congress; Home Rule Movement, emergence of Gandhi; Non-cooperation Movement; Civil Disobedience Movement; demand for Pakistan; Cripps Mission; 'Quit India' Movement; formation of the Indian National Army; Cabinet Mission; events leading to the independence and partition of India in 1947 and the process of framing of the Constitution of India.
Details of modern and contemporary Indian history are displayed in such a manner that visitors walking through the galleries are led through the many phases of India's colonial and post-colonial history and our freedom struggle, spanning nearly a century and a half.
The depiction of the history of the anti-colonial movement up to 1947 is brought to a culmination by a novel display in the Nehru Museum which recreates the Central Hall of Parliament as on the midnight of 14-15 August 1947 showing an animated fibre-glass figure of Jawaharlal Nehru delivering the 'Tryst with Destiny' speech'. This newly created Central Hall display is very popular with visitors.
Another attraction is the gifts gallery which displays some of the most beautiful gifts received by Nehru during his travels in India and abroad.
In addition to the permanent display in the Museum, special exhibitions are arranged periodically to depict different facets of Nehru's life and phases of the Indian nationalist movement. Conferences related to the freedom struggle are also held from time to time.
Everything that formed an integral part of Nehru's life is showcased in the Museum, which also depicts the great diversity of our people and culture as well as the underlying unity in the country. The old Museum Sales Counter which has been converted into a new Souvenir Shop in the ground floor of Teen Murti Bhavan has books, photographs and audio cassettes of the selected speeches of Nehru.
A massive granite rock placed in the front lawn is inscribed with excerpts from the historic 'Tryst with Destiny' speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru in the midnight session of the Indian Constituent Assembly on 14-15 August, 1947. Also seen by the visitors as they walk up to the main building are two marble tablets with excerpts from the last 'Will and Testament' inscribed in Hindi and English.
Three eternal flames, the "Jawahar Jyoti", "Indira Jyoti" and "Rajiv Jyoti" which burn day and night in memory of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi respectively also attract visitors to the back of the Museum building.
The Nehru Museum remains open from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm on all days, except Mondays. Guides are provided, free of cost, to conduct visitors in groups around the Museum. On an average, more than 3,000 visitors throng these galleries daily to know and experience our struggle for freedom and the making of a resurgent India.
Millions of admiring and grateful countrymen, from all walks of life and different parts of India, international dignitaries and tourists have passed through the legend-filled rooms and corridors of the Nehru Museum at Teen Murti Bhavan and its lawns.
It is a matter of pride that the Museum continues to maintain its popularity even after four decades of the passing away of Nehru.
