This sprawling museum houses a large collection of 35,000 treasures amassed by Salar Jung III, the wazir of the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan. These include paintings, Persian miniatures, furniture, manuscripts, weapons and sculptures from Africa, Europe, south-east and west Asia, and other parts of India.
Its star attraction is the “Veiled Rebecca”, a life-sized marble statue of a Bibilical character which was carved in the late 19th century by Italian sculptor Giovani Battista Benzoni. Other highlights include Deccan miniature paintings, Chinese porcelain, Arabic and Persian manuscripts, and the collection of the Nizam’s jewels, including the famed 184-carat Jacob Diamond.