Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum

The Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum is an art museum located within the Lakshmi Vilas Palace complex in Vadodara, Gujarat. Housed in a building originally used as a school for the royal children, it displays the extensive art collection of the Gaekwads of Baroda. It is notable for its large collection of paintings by Raja Ravi Varma, European masters, marble and bronze sculptures, and royal artifacts reflecting the patronage of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III.

Visitors can expect a two-storey museum building within the Lakshmi Vilas Palace grounds displaying galleries of paintings, sculptures and decorative arts. Ground floor galleries feature European paintings and marble sculptures, while upper galleries showcase works by Raja Ravi Varma and other Indian artists. The setting is inside the palace estate with landscaped surroundings, ticketed entry, and indoor exhibition halls that visitors explore on foot.

The museum is housed in a building originally constructed as a school for the children of the Gaekwad royal family. It was later converted into a museum to house the art collection assembled by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, a noted patron of art who commissioned works from Raja Ravi Varma and European artists. The museum was inaugurated in 1961 and named after Maharaja Fateh Singh Rao Gaekwad.

The museum preserves and displays the artistic patronage of the Gaekwads of Baroda, showcasing a significant collection of Indian and European art. Its Raja Ravi Varma collection is of particular cultural importance, representing the fusion of Indian themes with European academic painting techniques promoted under royal patronage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.