Erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad's fabulous jewellery collection will be put up for permanent display in its home city soon to give a fillip to 'heritage tourism'.
Indian Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury told Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday that the Centre has taken a decision in principle to bring back the Nizam's jewellery to Hyderabad on a permanent basis. A new facility will be built in the sprawling Public Gardens in the heart of the city for this purpose. Alternatively, the building currently housing the Health Museum will be vacated to make way for jewellery display.
For four decades, the fabulous jewellery collection of the Nizam was kept in the safe vaults of HSBC at Mumbai. In 1995, the Centre bought the famed jewellery collection for Rs 218 crore after protracted legal wrangles. Since then, the priceless collection is being kept in the safe vaults of the Reserve Bank of India at Mumbai.
The 173-piece collection comprises 325 pieces, accounting for pairs and groups of ornaments, not including the 22 unset emeralds and the Jacob's diamond. The collection includes turban ornaments, necklaces, earrings, armbands, bracelets, belts, buttons and cuff links, anklets, watch chains and rings-- all jewels once worn by the Nizams of Hyderabad, their wives, children and grandchildren.
The jewellery pieces also include rubies and spinels from Burma (now Myanmar), emeralds from Colombia and pearls from Basra, a diamond set made in France, diamond studded images of camels, gold ingots, a seven-strand pearl necklace with 150 large and 230 small pearls with a two-diamond pendant, a pair of bracelets studded with 270 diamonds and the famed Jacob's diamond, the seventh biggest diamonds in the world with 184.75 carats.
The rare collection, dating from the early 18th century to early 20th century, is currently worth a massive Rs 10,000 crore, according to the Department of Culture, which acquired it a decade ago. The Jacob's Diamond alone is said to be worth Rs 400 crore.