THANJAVUR the historical City

Thanjavur is one of the oldest city of South India and has significance in Dravidan history. Whole Thanjavur district is known as the Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu.

Thanjavur has a rich historical background and it is a prism of ancient as well as the modern South Indian civilisation. Thanjavur was once the stronghold of Great CHOLAS and then MARATHAS. Since then Thanjavur has been one of the Chief Political, cultural and religious centres of South India.

Just 50km away from TRICHY international airport, Thanjavur itself contains 90 beautiful temples, as it was favoured by the CHOLAS between 1st to 12th centuries, the Nayaks in the 16th century and the MARATHAS in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The world renowned THANJAVUR ART GALLERY has been witnessing a steady growth of tourists- foreign and domestic- to view its priceless wonders.

The Art gallery, a fabulous collections of Bronze icons, Stone Sculptures and Art pieces was opened on 9th December, 1951.

A total of 25,807 foreign tourists and 162,292 domestic tourists had visited the gallery in the year 2007.

Works on the 1.5 crore 'Sound and light' show at the BIG TEMPLE in Thanjavur will begin as soon as the Archaeological Survey of India gives its nod and it will be completed in nine months.

Two sites, one on the southeast side of the Nandhi Mandabam for setting up the Sound and Light programme and the other on the South east side of the Temple gate for erecting the visitors' gallery, had been chosen. Two shows daily will take visitors through the history of the Big Temple and the role of King Raja Raja Cholan, who built the Temple, said to be one of the most beautiful and magnificent pieces of architecture in South Asia.

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