Salar Jung Museum

The Salar Jung Museum holds the personal art collection of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Salar Jung III (1889–1949), the last hereditary Wazir (prime minister) of the princely state of Hyderabad. Salar Jung devoted some 35 years and most of his fortune to collecting, with three principal interests: Indian art (Mughal miniatures, Tanjore paintings, Hyderabadi nizam-period artefacts); Far Eastern art (Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquerware); and European art (Italian marble sculpture, French porcelain). On his death the collection was nationalised and opened to the public in 1951. The museum's standout pieces include: Veiled Rebecca (Giovanni Maria Benzoni, 1876), a marble Italian sculpture so fine the veil appears translucent; the 19th-century musical clock that performs every hour with a small bronze figure striking a gong; a daiwa-da (dagger) that belonged to Aurangzeb; a Gilded Quran with calligraphy by Aurangzeb himself; and an extensive Mughal miniature gallery including portraits of every major emperor from Akbar to Shah Alam II. Guinness lists this as the world's largest single-person art collection. Allow at least four hours. Photography prohibited.