The Gass Forest Museum

 

The Gem in the Heart of the City 

The museum welcomes visitors with its red stone facade

I hadn’t heard of the museum until recently, and my goodness, I must say its quite the hidden gem despite being the first ever institution to ever display exhibits related to forestry in India. Located in the Forest College Campus, situated on Cowley Brown Road in the heart of Coimbatore city. The campus is also home to the Tamil Nadu Forest Academy (TNFA), the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (which also man), Central Academy for State Forest Service (CASFoS) and other offices of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department.

J.A. Gamble, the then conservator of forests for Madras Presidency attempted to establish a museum at the end of the 19^th century. He started out with a single room in his office building which later expanded to include other rooms under the next Conservator of Forests Horace Archibald Campbell Gass, who succeeded Gamble.  The museum was opened to the public 15 April 1902 by Baron Ampthill, the former Governor of Madras, under the name of Forest Museum at Coimbatore.

When Gass, the first curator, retired in 1905, his successor F. A. Lodge renamed the museum in his honour. The building was expanded in 1905 and 1915. Thus, the building in which the museum exists today was built in the year 1915.

The building was built in typical British Gothic style with red stones culminating to a 40 ft height. It has a mezzanine gallery that looks over the ground floor display, connected by Burma teak stairs. The hall is well ventilated, designed with many a window. The iron pillars used in the hall were specifically imported from the Great Britain. 

The central hall held up by iron pillars imported from Great Britain

 

In 1912, the Madras Forestry College (currently the Tamil Nadu Forest Academy) was established in the museum grounds to train foresters. During 1942–47, the museum was closed and the buildings used as shelters for World War II evacuees from Malta and Greece. After Indian Independence in 1947, the museum came under the administration Government of Tamil Nadu.

The museum sure has an eclectic collection of wildlife, insects, butterflies, wooden crafts, cultural artifacts and some of the arms used in the ancient period. The cultural artifacts include tribal armaments and ornaments, timber produce, forest engineering models and entomological specimen. In total the museum hosts 10,000 different types of artifacts.

 At the entrance of the museum, visitors are greeted by a stuffed gaur, from the Biligiriranga hills. It was gifted by the last maharaja of the princely state of Mysore, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar in 1956.  Apart from this one can see the stuffed animals like peacock, leopard, bramhini kite and others clearly labelled with the animal’s characteristics and territories. Most of the stuffed animals were captured by the British in the early 19^th century as the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 banned hunting.  One of the great attractions of this museum is the preserved baby elephant’s foetus, stuffed baby elephant and skeleton of the elephant. Another such attraction being the cross section of a teak tree. Its 5.7m girth has a timeline of Indian history from 1448 to 1904 stuck on it, corresponding to the annual rings that show its age.  The geology section of the museum has sample exhibits from 135 countries. 

The stuffed Gaur from Biligiriranga Hills

 

 

The 14 month old elephant foetus

The museum is open on weekdays from 9:30 a.m to 5:30 p.m. It is closed on all government holidays. With a nominal fee of ₹ 10 for adults and ₹ 5 for children,it is the perfect place for nature enthusiasts to spend a day.