Pondicherry Museum

Pondicherry Museum, housed in a former colonial-era administrative building, displays artefacts spanning Puducherry's history from the ancient Roman-trade-era site of Arikamedu through to French colonial furniture, sculpture and archaeological finds from the wider region. The museum's collection of Roman and Indo-Roman trade artefacts from Arikamedu offers particular insight into Puducherry's role in ancient Indian Ocean trade networks, well before French colonial arrival.

For visitors wanting historical context before exploring the French Quarter's streets or the Arikamedu excavation site itself, the museum offers a useful single-stop introduction to the region's layered history spanning ancient trade, medieval Chola-era heritage and French colonial administration.

Housed in a former Governor's residence, the museum's collection includes significant archaeological material from Arikamedu, an ancient port site that traded with the Roman world, giving Puducherry a documented history stretching back roughly two thousand years before French colonisation.

In central Puducherry, near the French Quarter.