page_title: DakshinaChitra
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: DakshinaChitra / Collection / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Dakshina-Chitra-Inside-House-2
context_page_description: DakshinaChitra is a living-history museum in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, dedicated to South Indian heritage and culture. It is located 25 kilometres to the south of Chennai. Opened to the public on 14 December 1996, the museum was founded and is being managed by the Madras Craft Foundation. The MCF was established in 1984. Deborah Thiagarajan, an Indian art historian of American origin, governs the museum. The museum is built on 10 acres of land taken on a 33-year lease from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Located at Muttukadu, on the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry, the site overlooks Bay of Bengal.
  Developed as a heritage village, DakshinaChitra has an array of displays and relocated originals of dwellings depicting the life pattern of people in the states of southern India. The exhibits portray the architecture, art, folk performing-arts and craft of South Indian traditions. The amenities include a research unit, crafts bazaar, playground, an area to hold religious functions, stone workshop, and souvenir kiosks. There are craftsmen who permanently work at DakshinaChitra who demonstrate or explain how they make their wares.
context_section_description: The complex brings together old buildings that have been transplanted from other sites, to give an idea of vernacular architecture and forms of community living from southern states namely Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. It has zones devoted to these four southern states. The architecture is not grandiose, and is not folk either, this is mostly urban middle class traditional architecture, which means it is a complex that eschews spectacle and grand scale, as well as ethnography. 
  The museum has 18 heritage houses representing the living styles of people from the states. The original houses in their "vernacular style" were purchased by MCF and were recreated by a team of masons, carpenters and architecture students. The purchase costs varied from Rs. 50,000 for ordinary mud houses to Rs. 1.5 million for the Chettinad merchants' mansions with crafted doors and woodwork. They were then dismantled systematically under the guidance of stapathis (temple architects). The dismantled elements were transported to the museum site and recreated at the allotted space in their exact original form. Apart from recreating the homes, the roads and all other features that existed in the old village sites were recreated.
  
  Tamil Nadu  section showcases how yesteryear merchants, Brahmins, silk weavers, agriculturists and potters lived. The Ikat weavers house and coastal Andhra house are exhibited in Andhra Pradesh section. The Ilkal weavers house and a house from Chikamagalur are at display in Karnataka section. In the Kerala section, the Syrian Christian house known for its distinctive layout with the entrance leading directly to the granary, the Hindu house built largely using jackfruit wood and palmyra and the Calicut house representing homes in north Kerala are displayed.
caption: Inside a house at DakshinaChitra
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