World Museums Day: Exploring Visakhapatnam’s museums beyond history

Ahead of World Museum Day on 18 May, here’s a look at Visakhapatnam’s diverse museum circuit, where maritime history sits alongside biodiversity archives, Buddhist interpretation spaces, folk heritage collections and experimental traveling exhibitions.

In the heart of history

School children view realistic models of female fishermen on display at the Visakha Museum in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: In Paradise

Located near the Beach Road stretch, the Visakha Museum remains one of the city’s oldest cultural repositories. Opened in 1991, the museum collects artefacts associated with the social and maritime past of the region.

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Its galleries contain ancient armour, coins, portraits, maps and palm leaf manuscripts from earlier decades. Sections devoted to the Kalinga region, colonial Visakhapatnam and local trade routes provide glimpses of the coastline that once served as an active trade corridor.

The dome of the Pakistani submarine Ghazi, which was destroyed by the Indian Navy when it attempted to slip into Visakhapatnam harbor on 4 December 1971, on display at the Visakha Museum in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

One of the museum’s enduring attractions is its collection of maritime memorabilia, including model ships and navigational equipment associated with the port city’s maritime identity. Old photographs of Visakhapatnam before industrial expansion continue to attract residents who come in search of fragments of a familiar but altered urban landscape.

Unlike the immersive digital galleries now commonplace elsewhere, the Visakha Museum still carries the air of a conventional archive, where history is encountered through objects rather than spectacle.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The war machines left

A view of the Sea Harrier Museum, a British reconnaissance and attack aircraft, on Beach Road in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

The coast of Visakhapatnam gradually developed into an unusual corridor of an open-air maritime museum. Along the promenade of RK Beach stand retired naval assets that once served in active military operations and now function as public museums.

The most recognized of these remains the INS Kursura Submarine Museum. Commissioned to the Indian Navy in 1969, the Soviet submarine completed several operational missions before being decommissioned and converted into a museum. Passing through narrow passageways, visitors encounter torpedo sections, berths, control rooms and operating panels that reveal the limited reality of underwater life.

Just across the street is the TU-142 Aviation Museum, built around the long-range maritime surveillance aircraft used by the Indian Navy. Once deployed for reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare, the massive aircraft now introduces visitors to naval aviation systems, cockpit operations and maritime defense technology.

The Sea Harrier Museum adds another dimension to the city’s military museum landscape. Known for its vertical take-off capability, the aircraft once formed an important part of India’s naval air fleet. Interactive displays and visual installations inside the museum trace the aircraft’s operational history and technological features.

Tourists visiting the Sea King Sikorsky UH-3H Helicopter Museum that has been added to the Maritime Corridor on Beach Road near the TU-142 Aircraft Museum and the Kursura Submarine Museum in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

The newest addition to this naval chain is the UH-3H Helicopter Museum. Previously used for search and rescue operations and maritime logistics, the helicopter offers visitors a closer understanding of the on-board maritime support systems. Together, these museums brought retired military equipment into public spaces and allowed visitors to understand their history and role outside of defense institutions.

The Submarine Museum and the Integrated Circuit of Maritime Museums is open to visitors from 4 to 8 p.m. (except Mondays).

Interpretation of the Buddhist past

A view of the 3rd century BC Buddhist site of Thotlakonda, where an interpretation center is being established in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

The ancient hilltop Buddhist site of Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex continues to attract archaeologists, students and travelers. Dating back to the second and third centuries BC, the site once functioned as an active Buddhist monastic settlement overlooking the ancient sea trade routes along the Bay of Bengal.

The interpretive center at Thotlakonda is set to enhance public engagement with the site by contextualizing the excavated remains through scale models, illustrated panels and historical explanations. Rather than presenting the ruins in isolation, the center aims to help visitors understand the daily rhythms of Buddhist monks, the architectural layout of the monastery, and the coastal trade links that contributed to the spread of Buddhism.

The interpretive center has also become an important educational stop for school groups, many of whom encounter Buddhist archeology for the first time through these exhibits. Archaeological fragments, pottery remains, and reconstructed visual narratives help bridge the gap between excavation reports and public understanding.

(Difficult times are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM)

Reading the Eastern Ghats

A boy looking at the exhibits on display at the Nature Interpretation Center at the Eastern Ghats Biodiversity Center in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: In Paradise

While conventional museums often focus on human civilization, the Eastern Ghats Biodiversity Center at PM Palem shifts the focus to the ecological richness of the region.

A ‘live’ model of the endangered ‘pangolin’ made by Andhra University fine arts students at the Eastern Ghats Biodiversity Center at PM Palem in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: In Paradise

The resort is located amidst a green landscape adjacent to the Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary and introduces visitors to the biodiversity of the region. The exhibits document the endemic flora, butterflies, reptiles, mammals and birds found in the hill ecosystems surrounding Visakhapatnam.

A view of the Eastern Ghats Biodiversity Center at PM Palem in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

Educational installations at the center explain the interdependence of forests, watershed systems and conservation pressures affecting the Eastern Ghats. Sample displays, taxidermy models, and interpretive graphics are designed to introduce younger visitors to regional ecology that is often absent from urban conversations.

The center gradually emerged as an important information space for nature education programs, biodiversity workshops and guided walks.

(Times are from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM).

Nature in a suitcase

Wilded Nature Group Portable Natural History Museum in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Among the city’s lesser-known museum initiatives is the Nature group’s Wilded portable natural history museum, an unconventional traveling collection developed to bring natural history closer to people and community spaces.

Specimens on display at the Natural History Group’s Wilded Portable Museum in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

Unlike permanent museums housed in fixed buildings, this portable format brings preserved specimens, insect collections, replica skulls, feathers, fossils and educational material directly to schools, workshops and public gatherings. Founded by Vimal Raj, the initiative attempts to remove the formal distance that often separates museums from the everyday educational environment.

Participants experience a portable natural history museum by Wilded, a nature education group, in Visakhapatnam. | Photo credit: KR Deepak

The exhibit encourages tactile engagement and observational learning, especially for children who encounter natural history collections outside of textbook illustrations.

Wilded’s portable natural history museum was built around collections gathered using non-invasive methods, with specimens obtained without disturbing wildlife or natural habitats. According to founder Vimal Raj, the idea was to create a museum that would stimulate curiosity while helping both children and adults understand how ecosystems work and co-exist.

The traveling museum now houses more than 250 exhibits divided into sections such as marine ecosystems, Eastern Ghats and insects. The collection includes naturally found feathers, nests, fossils, insect specimens and replicas that introduce visitors to biodiversity through close observation and hands-on learning. Vimal Raj says the museum encourages visitors to identify the birds, trees and insects around them and develop a stronger connection with the natural world. Nature walks are often part of the session, so children can immediately connect what they see inside the exhibit to the environment around them.

By moving around educational spaces, public parks, libraries and communities instead of waiting for visitors to arrive, the portable museum aims to expand the definition of how museum experiences can be delivered.

Contact Wilded on 7330880274 to arrange a meeting at the museum.