Purkhouti Muktangan, Atal Nagar-Nava Raipur, Cultural museum complex in Atal Nagar-Nava Raipur, India.
Purkhouti Muktangan is an open-air museum in Atal Nagar-Nava Raipur, the planned capital of Chhattisgarh state in central India. It covers a large outdoor ground with full-scale reconstructions of tribal houses, sculptures, and art installations drawn from communities across the state.
The museum opened in 2006, shortly after Chhattisgarh was established as a separate state in 2000, as part of the effort to build a new capital and give the region its own institutional presence. It was created to document the ways of life found across this newly formed state, which brought together many different communities.
The grounds bring together objects from daily life across Chhattisgarh, including tools, textiles, and household items used by different communities. Tribal dwellings reconstructed at full scale show how people build and organize their living spaces in different parts of the state.
Exploring the grounds is done entirely on foot, so sturdy shoes and sun protection are a good idea, especially during hotter parts of the day. Morning visits tend to be more comfortable and give you more time before the midday heat sets in.
The name Purkhouti Muktangan roughly translates from Hindi as 'open space of ancestors', pointing to the idea of keeping past ways of life visible in an open setting. Some of the craft techniques shown here are practiced by very few people today and are rarely displayed anywhere else.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
