Dec 21, 2013

Open-air museum at Police Campus, Dharwad

I discovered this museum July 2013. First I had seen only the sculptures embedded into the compound wall besides the road. Mid October I happened to notice one of the statues beyond the wall, in the open ground. That's when I discovered a bunch of sculptures in the ground. Two of them were fixed into the fountain pool wall. I guess these were collected by a high ranking police officer during British rule.

This arch marks the entrance to police quarters colony. On the right hand side of the road is a collection of ancient sculptures embedded into a wall.

Perhaps these are remains of a Chalukyan temple. The style and design of some pieces are similar to sculptures at Nagareshwara temple at Bankapur and Shambulingeshwara temple at Kundagol.

scale model of a Shikhara
pieces used to form the backrest of Sukhanasi
scale models of columns and Rekha Nagari Shikhara


pair of Keerthimukha
pair of Hoysala style lions flank a row of Shikhara
Keerthimukha
Saptamatrika and Ganapati
Jaina Theerthankara sheltered by a seven headed serpent

4' tall Vishnu
crown seems incompleete
rear side of Vishnu's statue
lathe turned pillars with square base

temple model mounted on a pedestal


peacock motif on a lathe turned pillar
a pillar with Kannada inscription
Kannada inscription
decorated fountain pond
Ugranarasimha
A short distance from here is Prashantadhama ~ Durga Devi temple complex of police head quarters and Varakavi Da Ra Bendre's favorite spot Sadanakere.

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