National Gallery of Modern Art

A couple of weekends back I ventured to the National Gallery of Modern Art, on palace road. What drew me to the place was not just the paintings but a recent writeup in the newspaper of the gardens around the gallery and the many trees it housed.

Indeed it lived up to the article - the NGMA is housed in what was previously called the Manikyavelu Mansion - Over 90 years old, the Manikyavelu Mansion was owned by the royal family of Mysore. The mansion later came to be owned by Raja Manikayavalu Mudaliar, a mine owner. It was taken over by the State Government in the late sixties, who then offered it to the Ministry of Culture in July 1989 for setting up of a modern art Museum at Bengaluru by NGMA.

Spread over 3.5 acres the grounds of the mansion have many really old trees - and to help you find your way and name the trees the Gallery has a booklet that is a 'tree map' with the name and location of each tree. All thanks to the efforts of Prashanta Bhat and Behula Shah.