The International Dolls Museum is exactly what its name implies, it is a museum devoted to a display of dolls from all over India and abroad. On view are dolls dressed in national costumes, each exquisitely Grafted and embellished.

There are indigenous rural dolls made by local craftsmen, sophisticated dolls machine made at factories, in fact a magical collection that will delight children as well as enthrall the adult.

Set up by the renowned political cartoonist, K Shankar Pillai (1902-1989), Shankar’s International Dolls Museum has one of the largest collections of costume dolls anywhere in the world. Housed in the Children’s Book Trust building on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, the museum has a floor area of 5,184.5 sq ft and occupies a portion of the first floor. A separate entrance, a stately winding staircase, leads up to a foyer. Inside, the museum is divided into two halves.

The two sections have over 160 glass cases, 1,000 ft long, mounted on walls. One section displays exhibits from European countries, the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Commonwealth of Independent States, other Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India.

In the pageant are characters from India’s unique classical dance, Kathakali, with its splendid costumes. Other dolls of special interest are Boys and Girls Festival dolls from Japan, replica Dolls of the Queen’s collection (UK), Maypole Dance from Hungary, Kabuki and Samurai dolls from japan, Flamenco dancers from Spain, Women’s Orchestra from Thailand, and Kandy Pehara from Sri Lanka.

There are also special displays besides a representative collection from the over 150 kinds of authentic Indian costume dolls made at the dolls workshop attached to the museum. Indian dolls made at the workshop are exchanged for gifts received from abroad as well as sold to collectors and museums in India and abroad.

Each doll is handcrafted after meticulous research into the physical attributes, dress and jewellery of individual characters.

The museum started with a thousand dolls. Between 1965 and 1987 another 5,000 were added – a vast majority coming as gifts. Today the volume has increased to 6,500 exhibits from almost 85 countries, truly giving it an international character.