Northeast India's biggest museum to open Sep 25

Vice President Hamid Ansari will Sep 25 inaugurate northeast India's biggest museum, set up in Tripura's royal palace, which was the command hub until the erstwhile princely state's accession to India in October 1949.

"The vice president will arrive in Agartala Sep 25 and inaugurate the museum at the Ujjayanta Palace on the same day," an official of the Tripura government told reporters here Tuesday.

"The museum set up at the renovated Ujjayanta Palace will showcase northeast India's art, culture, history and ethnic diversity. This is the biggest museum of the region," the official said.

Ujjayanta Palace, which until July 2011 housed the Tripura legislative assembly, was constructed by then maharaja Radhakishore Manikya Bahadur in 1899-1901.

During the princely rule, the palace was the command centre for the Tripura kings until the northeastern state joined the Indian union.

In July 2011, the Tripura assembly shifted to a newly-built complex on the capital's outskirts.