The Manikyavelu Mansion is over 90 years old and once belonged to the Wodeyars, Mysore's royal family. It later came to be owned by Raja Manikyavelu Mudaliar, a mine owner. It was taken over by the Government of Karnataka in the late sixties and then offered to the Ministry of Culture in July 1989 in order to set up a modern art museum in Bangalore.

Read more at: http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/837-national-gallery-of-modern-art-bangalore?utm_source=copyApart from the iconic status of NGMA in the city, another crowd pleaser is the very building that houses it. The Manikyavelu Mansion which houses the NGMA is an old mansion that adds to the beauty and elegance that represents NGMA, a fitting place for the Gallery. The pristine white walls of the mansion, the trees as tall as the building and the serene surroundings with tastefully done interiors compliment the gallery so much so that one wonders if it was built just for this purpose.

But, it is not. The building that is over 90 years old was once the property of the royal Mysore family. The mansion later came to be owned by a mine owner Raja Manikayavalu Mudaliar. It was taken over by the state government in the late sixties and offered to the Ministry of Culture in 1989 to set up a modern art museum at Bangalore by NGMA.

Spread over 3.5 acres, the historic heritage mansion was transformed from a residency into a museum gallery, with a display space of 1551 sq m by architect Naresh Narasimhan of Venkataramana Associates. The heritage building has been supplemented by a new Gallery Block, the architecture of which coexists in harmony with the style and ambience of the traditional mansion.Manikyavelu Mansion is a landmark building originally belonging to the Yuvaraja of Mysore Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar.He sold the property to Manikyavelu Mudaliar,a leading businessman of 1930s.The Karnataka Housing Board purchased the building in 1970s from Mudaliars grandchildren.Prior to NGMA,the mansion has housed the Backward Classes Commission,Devaraj Urs Development Corporation and other government offices.Currently,the Manikyavelu Mansion belongs to the Karnataka Housing Board.The State government has handed it over to the NGMA for 30 years at a cost Rs 1 per year.However,the Kannada and Culture Department of the State has been paying an annual rent of nearly Rs 31 lakh to the Housing Board.The department has,over the last seven years,paid roughly Rs 2.1 crore towards its rent.The building was renovated at a cost of Rs 7.78 crore. Before Raja Manickavelu, a limestone mine owner bought it, the mansion was owned by turns by Sir Ismail Sait, a merchant prince of old Bangalore, late Sixties. For some years, it was leased one of the United Nations' agencies looking after technology transfer in the Asia-Pacific and the occupants restored and maintained it in its original splendour for several years. The work to covert it into a modern arts gallery has been one for some years now. The CPWD is working on several other projects in the city now. One will be the Rs. 6-crore new Regional Passport Office, which will be ready by March 2006. This centrally air-conditioned building will have spacious reception area so that passport seekers do not have to line up on the road, as they do now.The hindu thu mar 24-2005February 19, 2009