Pazhassi Raja Museum & Art Gallery in Kozhikode

A veritable treasure trove for historians and connoisseurs of art, the Pazhassi Raja Museum is located in Kozhikode. The Pazhassi Raja Museum & Art Gallery adjacent to the museum displays the acclaimed paintings of Kerala’s cherished artists, Raja Ravi Varma (1848 – 1906) whose works brought international repute to the State and his uncle Raja Raja Varma.

The museum is managed by the State Archaeology Department and has on display mural paintings, antique bronzes, ancient coins, models of temples, umbrella stones, dolmenoid cists (quadrangular burial chambers with capstones), and similar megalithic monuments.

The museum and the art gallery are named after the great Pazhassi Raja, born Kerala Varma of the Padinjare Kovilakom of the Kottayam Royal Family. The famous ‘Pazhassi Revolt’ (against the British East India Company during the second half of the 1700s) was led by Pazhassi Raja. Nicknamed the Lion of Kerala, Pazhassi Raja is also credited with introducing guerrilla warfare in the hills of Wayanad to resist the increasingly intolerable British colonialism. This great freedom fighter was shot dead in an encounter on 30 November 1805.