Chennai is not a city that makes a fuss about its museums. Take it from the Fort St George museum where the Tamil Nadu Secretatiat stands. On International Museum Day (May 18), there were no banners of celebration or queues snaking around the entrance on the weekend.

What there is, however, is a collection of institutions: some ancient, some obscure, one tucked inside a working film studio, that together cover about four centuries of the city’s life. The museum becomes a time-warp, allowing children and adults alike to take a look at the history of colonial administration, Chola-era bronzes, vintage locomotives, the mechanics of law enforcement, the cars of Tamil cinema royalty, and the domestic architecture of four southern states.

This list is not new but is a reminder of why you should consider a museum trail in Chennai on a bored searing summer afternoon.

This list is not new but is a reminder of why you should consider a museum trail in Chennai on a bored searing summer afternoon.

Fort St George Museum

If you really think about it, the fort in itself is the exhibit. Completed in 1644, the first English fortress in India still functions as the Tamil Nadu Secretariat, which means soldiers at the gate might have once given off the same bureaucratic energy some 300 years ago. The museum inside is small but good: Raj-era coins, regimental portraits, Persian manuscripts, and the original land deed of Chennapatna signed over to the East India Company. St Mary’s Church located next door, consecrated in 1680, is the oldest Anglican church East of the Suez and worth the walk. There is also military commander and former British Prime Minister Sir Arthur Wellesley’s Madras residence on the premises, and a number of gates: St George’s Gate, Wallajah Gate, and the Sea Gates (once the passage way for boats to enter the fort premises. People would once fish in the moats). Do not miss Lord Cornwallis’ cupola, his statue with an insensitive frieze around the base of Tipu Sultan’s sons being handed over as hostages till reparation was paid. There are several cannons on the premises. Do not expect a polished visitor experience — the labels are sparse and the lighting is old. But for anyone trying to understand how this city started, there is no better place to stand. Fort St George is open from 9am to 5pm everyday except on Friday. Entry is ₹15 for an Indian and ₹100 for foreigners.

Government Museum, Egmore

Founded in 1851, this is the second oldest museum in India, spread across six buildings on a garden campus in Egmore. The collection is genuinely wide: Bronze Age archaeology, natural history with taxidermied animals and fossil casts, a numismatics gallery, and — the main draw — one of the finest collections of Chola bronzes in the world. The Nataraja figures here are the real thing, not reproductions, and they are displayed without the reverence-performativity of bigger institutions. The campus has an agreeably rambling quality; it was not designed as a unit and it shows. Budget at least three hours, more if the bronzes slow you down, which they will. The museum also houses the largest collection of antique Roman coins outside of Rome, quite the indicator of Tamil Nadu’s erstwhile trading prowess. A bonus feature of visiting the Government Museum is the ability to walk into the newly-revamped Connemara Public Library, an institution and the iconic National Art Gallery. Do not miss the ornate cannon seized from Tipu Sultan’s army or the others relocated from the Danes of Tranquebar. Government Museum is open from 9.30am to 5pm except on Fridays. Entry for Indians is priced at ₹15 and ₹250 for foreigners. There is a separate charge to use cameras.

Police Museum, Vepery

Most visitors do not know this place exists. The Tamil Nadu Police Museum in Egmore covers two centuries of law enforcement in Madras and later Tamil Nadu — colonial-era handcuffs, antique firearms, communication equipment, dioramas of notable crime scenes, and displays on landmark cases tried in the state. This Indo-Saracenic building is housed in what was the city’s Police Commissionerate from 1856 to 2014, before it moved to its present location opposite the Kirk. “A wall panel discusses the gory Auto Shankar case; alongside it is a sub-jail where visitors can enter and look at life from behind bars,” states an article from The Hindu. There is a section on officers killed in the line of duty that is handled with some restraint. There is also a ‘Seemai Vandi’, an old patrol cycle for police personnel in the 1800s. The exhibits are uneven — some cases are dense with detail, others thin — but the overall arc, from Madras Presidency constabulary to modern police, is coherent and more interesting than you would expect. The once-white structure and its grounds became the headquarters of the first Police Commissioner of Madras, Lieutenant-Colonel John Carne Boulderson in 1856.

The Police Museum is open from 11am to 7pm everyday except Tuesday. Entry is ₹10 and an additional ₹20 is charged to enter the fake jail.

Rail Museum, Villivakkam

The Rail Museum in Chennai is amusing. The open-air museum is near the Integral Coach Factory’s furnishing division with heritage locomotives parked on tracks you can walk between. The collection includes narrow-gauge hill railway engines, a royal saloon car once used by a Nizami prince, and working models of diesel and electric engines. There is a miniature train ride that children take very seriously. The outdoor setting works in its favour because you get a sense of scale. There is also an indoor space with miniature models of trains. Worth noting: the interpretive signage is patchy and some engines are in better condition than others. Come in the morning before it gets hot and give yourself anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes. The locomotives do not need much explanation. They are large enough to speak for themselves. The Rail Museum is open from 10am to 5pm everyday except on Monday. Entry is priced at ₹40.

AVM Heritage Museum

Inside the AVM Studios compound in Vadapalani, there is a private collection of vintage cars including Cadillacs, Rolls-Royces, Studebakers, and pre-war European models, among many, assembled over decades by the AVM family, whose film studio has been running since 1945. Several cars have direct connections to Tamil film history and the caretakers know the stories. They might tell you if you ask politely. An article in The Hindu talks about a suave 1945 Buick car used in multiple hit Tamil films, including Sakalakala Vallavan, Manidhan and Nallavanuku Nallavan on display. It helps to call ahead. However, this is not not unusual for private collections of this kind. The cars are maintained, not mothballed. If you have any interest in either automotive history or Tamil cinema, this is worth the arrangement. It does not try to be a museum in the institutional sense. It ia more like someone’s very well-curated garage.

AVM Heritage Museum is open between Friday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. During the summer holidays, access has been extended all week. Entry fee is priced at ₹200. Contact 8939890506 for tickets.

DakshinaChitra Museum

About 25 kilometres down the ECR is DakshinaChitra, an open-air heritage complex of traditional homes and craft workshops transplanted from across Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. The buildings — a Chettinad mansion, a Kerala courtyard house, an Andhra craftsman’s workshop — are reconstructed from original materials. Artisans work on site: weaving, pottery, woodwork. The institution also regularly curates exhibits and shows for people to watch, and get a deep, grounded understanding of South Indian culture. Founded in 1996, it is one of the more rigorously maintained cultural institutions in the South. Take a morning, rather than an afternoon off. The light is better and it is cooler. The ECR drive alone makes the trip worthwhile.

DakshinaChitra Museum is open from 10am to 6pm everyday except Tuesday. Entry is priced at ₹175 on weekdays, and ₹200 on the weekends.