Victoria Jubilee Museum

The Victoria Jubilee Museum, now known as the Bapu Museum, is an archaeological museum located on M. G. Road in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. Housed in an Indo-European style building that dates to the late nineteenth century, the institution holds collections of Buddhist and Hindu relics, sculptures, paintings, and artifacts, with some objects dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The museum is maintained by the Archaeological department and serves as a significant repository of regional heritage in southeastern India.

The museum was established in 1887 as part of the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The foundation stone was laid on 27 June 1887 by Robert Sewell, District Collector of Krishna district. The building initially served to house industrial exhibitions. In 1921, the site gained political significance when Sri Pingali Venkayya presented a tri-colour flag to Mahatma Gandhi at this location during a Congress Party meeting; the flag incorporated the charkha, or spinning wheel, as its emblem and later became the official flag of the party. The building was converted into an archaeological museum in 1962 under the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Andhra Pradesh. In 2015, the institution was renamed Bapu Museum in memory of Sri Sattiraju Laxminarayana, the renowned film director, illustrator, cartoonist, and author known for his work in the Telugu film industry and Bollywood.

The museum's holdings encompass historical galleries, stone inscriptions, coins, weapons, and ornamental objects associated with royal courts. The collections include arms such as swords, body armour, and shields, alongside paintings and archaeological finds. Among the archaeological materials are axes, spear points, terracotta figurines, stone and bronze sculptures, ceramics, celadon, bidri ware, and additional weaponry. The museum also maintains an open-air exhibition of sculptures spanning from the Satavahana period through the post-Vijayanagara era. Stone sculptures depict scenes from Buddhist and Hindu mythology.

Significant individual works include a standing Buddha carved from white limestone of Alluru, dated to the 3rd, 4th century, and a 2nd-century sculpture depicting Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura. The painting collection features a large state portrait of Queen Victoria and copies of works by Western masters.

The museum building is constructed in an Indo-European architectural style and is more than a hundred years old. One source specifies the building was erected in 1877, the year Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India, though the foundation stone for the museum was laid in 1887. The structure occupies a prominent position on M. G. Road in Vijayawada.

The Bapu Museum is situated on M. G. Road in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is maintained by the Archaeological department and operates under the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Government of Andhra Pradesh. The institution functions as an archaeological museum open to the public, preserving and displaying collections that document the region's Buddhist, Hindu, and historical heritage.