Uncle Robin’s Children Museum, Golaghat

A medical doctor from Edinburgh and Liverpool Universities, a Padmashree Award winner, and a naturalist of international repute, Dr Robin Banerjee is the one who established the famous children museum in the district of Golaghat. Born in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, Bannerjee joined the British Army in 1937, after completing his medical degree from UK. He later came to Assam, to work under a Scottish doctor in the Chabua Tea Estate of the state. It was during this time that the doctor came to know about the culture and tradition of the state. Being a naturist, he was automatically drawn by the flora and fauna found in the different wildlife sanctuaries of Assam. He finally decided to stay back in Assam, after he got a permanent post in the Dhansiri Medical Association, Bokakhat, near Kaziranga.

Uncle Robin, as the local kids used to call Dr Robin Banerjee, passed away just six days before his 95th birthday, but not without fulfilling his one and only aim - to build Uncle’s Robin Museum of National History. Till then, Golaghat was a silent place, with no forms of attraction or amusement. The museum was like a boon for the people residing there, especially with the amount of tourist interest it generated. Nowadays, children from even the neighboring towns and cities come to this place to see the artifacts, paintings and photographs placed in this museum. The museum remains open from Monday to Friday and the timing is from 10 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 4 pm.

Collections

Amongst the numerous collections in Uncle Robin’s Children Museum, the ones worth mentioning are:

Dolls: Around 587 dolls and 262 other showpieces are found in the vicinity of the museum. These are actually the gifts that were presented to Dr Banerjee, during his many trips to abroad and within the country.

Paintings or Photographs: The 194 paintings and 19 award-winning photographs seen in the museum are all the creations of the Dr Banerjee. The photographs were, in fact, taken during very adverse conditions related to wildlife.

Artifacts: Among the 93 pieces of artifacts present in the museum, the ones worth mentioning are the Naga Warrior’s head hunting basket, and a beautiful horse made of Turquoise............
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