Places to Visit in Thiruvananthapuram, Sightseeing & Tourist Information
KERALA'S CAPITAL, known until recently as Trivandrum, was the seat of the former royal family of Travancore from 1750 to 1956. The magnificent Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple has given the city its name, Thiruvananthapuram — literally the "Holy City of Anantha", the sacred thousand-headed serpent on whom Vishnu reclines. Built across seven hills, the city's old quarter clusters around the temple, while along busy Mahatma Gandhi Road are colonial mansions, churches and modern high-rises. Government Arts and Crafts (Napier) Museum Located in a well-planned compound is a complex of museums and the city's zoo. The Government Arts and Crafts Museum, earlier known as the Napier Museum after John Napier, a former governor of Madras, is in a red and black brick Indo-Saracenic structure, designed by Robert Fellows Chisholm (see p569) in the 19th century. It exhibits a rare collection of bronzes, stone sculptures, exquisite gold ornaments, ivory carvings an...