What to expect
National Art Gallery
Housed in a striking red Indo-Saracenic building opened in 1909 within the Pantheon Complex at Egmore, designed by Henry Irwin and built of Satyavedu sandstone. It holds Rajput and Mughal miniatures, Tanjore paintings, ivory and metalware. Its ornate arched facade is among the most photographed heritage structures in Chennai.
Practical guide
Plan National Art Gallery
Who's going?Tailor National Art Gallery to your trip
Typeheritage
Nearest baseEgmore
DistrictChennai
Best timeOctober to March is the cooler, drier…
Time neededAbout an hour
Entry₹15
Places to visit3→Listed businesses2→National Art Gallery is planned from Egmore, one of the travel bases in Chennai district. Use Egmore for stays, food and local transport, then plan this place as a focused stop.
Getting there
How to visit
- Base yourself in Egmore or nearby in Chennai, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel.
- If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.
Distance by road
- Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram)55 km
- Kanchipuram72 km
- Puducherry150 km
- Vellore135 km
- Tirupati135 km
Road km to Chennai; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
Timing
Best time
October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.
Weather in National Art GallerySeasonal guide
Live forecast loads in your browser.
Today at National Art Gallery
Sunrise5:58 am
Sunset6:21 pm
Golden hour best light5:21 pm–6:21 pm
Blue hour after sunset6:21 pm–6:46 pm
Sun sets toward compass bearingW · 279°
Moon tonight🌖 Waning gibbous · 83%
South-west monsoon. June to September is the south-west monsoon in Tamil Nadu. Expect heavy showers, mostly in bursts rather than all day — carry rain cover, allow extra time for getting around, and note that ferries and open-air sites are the first things affected.
Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Photos
National Art Gallery in pictures
Stay · eat · do · rent · see · shop
Stays, food & things to do near National Art Gallery
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around National Art Gallery — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
2 places to stay near National Art Gallery
H
Hotel Pandian
Place to stay
Top pick
Hotel
Hotel PandianHotel at 15, Kennet Ln. Its own site heads its front page “Hotel Pandian | Hotel in Egmore near Railway Station”.
H
Hotel Park Plaza
Place to stay
Top pick
Hotel
Hotel Park PlazaHotel at 29, Whannels Road. Its own site heads its front page “Hotel Parkplaza in Chennai / Hotel Parkplaza in Madurai”.
Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
Ranked
The best of Egmore, ranked
National Art Gallery sits in Egmore, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.
Across the whole of Egmore
Ranked guides
Top experiences around Egmore
2 more places around Egmore, each worth a day of its own.
churchSt. Andrew's Kirk
850 m · 11 min walk
A Church of Scotland kirk consecrated in 1821, built to serve the Scottish community of Madras and modelled on St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Its circular nave is crowned by a shallow masonry dome painted deep blue and studded with gilt stars, and rests on cast-iron columns. It is considered one of the finest colonial churches in India.
heritageEgmore Railway Station
300 m · 4 min walk
A colonial-era railway terminus opened in 1908 for the South Indian Railway, built in Gothic and Indo-Saracenic style with a soaring portico and clock-towered facade. For decades it was the gateway for trains to southern Tamil Nadu. It is a protected heritage structure and one of Chennai's most photographed buildings.
Roampedia is commission-free — own or know a stay, eatery, guide or shop near National Art Gallery? List it and it appears here once verified.
Add a nearby businessBefore you go
National Art Gallery — at a glance
Timings9:30 AM - 5:00 PM (closed Fridays and national holidays)
Best timeYear-round
Entry price
- Indian adult
- ₹15
Government monuments, museums and forest reserves in India often charge foreign visitors more. We have not verified whether this site does — ask at the counter.
Fees change without notice. Check the current rate at the counter.
Entry: Around ₹15 for Indians (part of Government Museum ticket)
Getting here
How to reach National Art Gallery
In the Pantheon Complex, Egmore, near Egmore railway and metro station.
Getting around National Art Gallery
We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.
If you need help at National Art Gallery
112All emergencies (police · fire · medical)The single number to call in any emergency (ERSS).100Police101Fire108Ambulance (emergency / EMS)1091Women’s helpline (distress)1098Child helpline1363Tourist helpline (India, 24×7, multilingual)
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
Nearby
What’s near National Art Gallery
On the map
Where National Art Gallery is
Good to know
National Art Gallery — frequently asked
When is the best time to visit National Art Gallery?
October to March is the cooler, drier season in the Cauvery delta.
What are the entry fee and timings at National Art Gallery?
Entry: Around ₹15 for Indians (part of Government Museum ticket). Timings: 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM (closed Fridays and national holidays). The rupee figure quoted is the Indian adult rate. Government monuments, museums and forest reserves in India often charge foreign visitors more, and we have not verified whether this site does.
How do I reach National Art Gallery?
Base yourself in Egmore or nearby in Chennai, then confirm the last-mile route locally before travel. If access depends on temple, museum or seasonal rules, check on the day before you go.
How much time do I need for National Art Gallery?
About an hour.
What else is near National Art Gallery?
Nearby you can pair Government Museum, Chennai (180 m), Connemara Public Library (240 m), Egmore Railway Station (300 m), St. Andrew's Kirk (850 m).
Read before you go
National Art Gallery guides, stories & itineraries
We have not published a story about National Art Gallery itself yet. These cover Egmore, the town it sits in, and the wider district.
Around Egmore
National Art Gallery sits in Egmore, so these cover the streets, buildings and surroundings around it.
Tamil Nadu-wide guides & itineraries
Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Photographs: $nowPearl, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0), N. Vivekananthamoorthy (CC BY 4.0), Yathuvanthi (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wikimedia Commons.
Image credits
- National Art Gallery:$nowPearl, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0