National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum

New Delhi's National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, better known as the Crafts Museum, preserves the “rare[est] and finest specimens of traditional Indian handicrafts and handlooms.” The Museum’s collection of over 33,000 objects from various states of India was acquired over a period of sixty years and includes clay and terracotta sculptures; textiles—including Kalamkari, Pashmina, and Shahtosh shawls, embroidered, Ikat and block printed fabrics; paintings; and ritual and religious objects. The Museum also boasts one of the largest Bhuta cult collections in the world. The Crafts Museum’s meandering layout highlights Indian architecture and design with features such as internal courtyards, open and semi-open passages, and carved doors.

Research on and documentation of traditional Indian handicrafts and handlooms are among the Crafts Museum’s most important activities. To these ends, the Museum runs the Crafts Demonstration Program. Each month from September to May, it invites 50 craftspeople from different parts of India to be in residence and demonstrate their skills to visitors. The works that they produce while in residence are sold in Lota, the museum shop. The Museum's new outdoor restaurant, Café Lota, offers contemporary Northern Indian cuisine.

_{(Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.)}