Museum at bijapur
The entrance to the Gol Gumbaz type building in Bijapur, known as Nagarkhana, leads to the ground floor of the museum that has nicely arranged exhibits.
A small crack has appeared on the dome as a result of the 1993 earthquake. As soon as one enters the museum, on the ground floor, what strikes a visitor is the tall pillar, with an ornamental top, with inscriptions in Kannada lipi commemorating the victory of Chalukyan king Mangalesha built in 601-602 AD. There are other edicts too of the 12th, 13th and 16th centuries found near Nalwad and Pattadakal. The pieces are labelled and well-exhibited.
Gallery one and two have Jain idols of tirthankaras. An idol of Parswanatha belongs to the 1310 AD. Veeragallu (hero stones) of the seventh-eighth century AD from Pattadakal, Naga-Nagi of the ninth century AD from Aihole, Mahasati stone from the 16th century AD are interesting exhibits. Gallery three has Arabic and Persian inscriptions of the 16th century AD, which were the court languages of the Adil Shah dynasty. Urdu manuscripts, sanads and firmans in Persian exhibited in the museum belong to the 16-17 century AD.
An interesting exhibit is the perforated window of the 16th century AD. On the first floor are the exhibits arranged in Gallery four, five, and six. The battle scene of Talikota fought in1565 AD is depicted in a large painting. The museum is located within the city and is easily reached on foot or by taxi/auto-rickshaw. Bijapur is about 580 km from Bangalore.
