DakshinaChitra Heritage Museum

DakshinaChitra Museum , a project of Madras Craft Foundation was opened to public on December 14^th 1996. The Museum is located on ten acres of land on East Coast Road – 25 kms South of Madras, on the way to Mamallapuram. DakshinaChitra portrays the everyday arts, vernacular architecture and folk performing arts of the four Southern States. 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 way. 

          DakshinaChitra is a modern cutting edge museum. In global parlance, it is an open-air museum, considered so because its collections consist of a number of traditional, authentic homes in a regional vernacular style, purchased, taken down, transported and reconstructed by artisans ( Stapathis) of the regions from where the houses came. The movable collections are primarily objects used in these homes during the 19th – early 20th century, the center also has a growing collection of  contemporary art and tribal art. The wonderful living traditions of craft and performance also make DakshinaChitra unique, as the museum provides a platform for crafts people and for folk performing arts.