Festivals

FESTIVALS: THE HERITAGE TRANSPORT MUSEUM, GURGAON

by Sohaila Kapur April 15 2025, 12:00 am Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins, 24 secs

Discover the Heritage Transport Museum in Gurgaon—a vibrant tribute to India’s transport history, where vintage vehicles, Bollywood nostalgia, and cultural storytelling merge in a dynamic, immersive journey across time. Sohaila Kapur reports…

Located in Taoru, on the outskirts of Gurgaon in Haryana, the Heritage Transport Museum is easily accessible from Delhi NCR and offers a unique day trip for culture and history enthusiasts. Whether you're staying in Gurugram, Manesar, or South Delhi, this museum provides an unforgettable look into India’s transport legacy just a short drive away—perfect for tourists, school groups, and families alike.

When I got the invitation to explore the Heritage Transport Museum in Gurgaon, that too after a bus ride, I was delighted. It reminded me of junkets, picnics, as well as school trips back in the old days. Wanting to refresh myself after a long bout of writing, I jumped at the opportunity.

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The Journey Begins
After a hearty buffet breakfast at our base, the Le Meridien Hotel, we boarded buses for our hour-long drive out of Delhi. We drove down to Taoru-Gurgaon, where the museum is located.

Built on a 3-acre complex, the Heritage Transport Museum is spread over four air-conditioned floors, with over 100,000 square feet of exhibition space, a library and reference centre, a mini auditorium, a museum souvenir shop, seminar rooms, and a refreshment area with an active kitchen that supplied our lunch.

The Heritage Transport Museum is the first private museum of its scale in India. It is conceived as a space that not only provides a glimpse into the history of travel in India but also engages with visitors through its well-designed information system.

The Visionary Behind the Museum
Opened to the public in December 2013, it is the brainchild of Tarun Thakral, Founder & Managing Trustee of the Museum and CEO of Le Meridien Hotel. Thakral, who has a passion for collecting modes of transport, wanted to share his massive collection with the public. He approached the government, and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, gave him a grant in 2010 to construct the building.

As India’s first comprehensive transport museum, it brings alive the history and evolution of transport heritage in India through a rich and diverse collection of vehicles and associated memorabilia. The collection is representative of not just the objects directly related to transport but also of the socio-cultural life and art associated with it.
The large and varied collection of this museum has been categorized into various sections of pre-mechanized and heavy mechanized transportation. The museum also displays contemporary art collections in various sections throughout the museum.

Unique Displays
The art is displayed on vehicles too, some of which are painted in colourful designs. Cars that have been worked over and used in famous song sequences in Bollywood—like Amitabh’s red tempo from Hera Pheri and Shah Rukh’s unique Jeep-car in Dil To Pagal Hai—are also displayed, with clips from the film projected on the wall. What also stands out is a large portrait of one of the most beautiful women ever, Maharani Gayatri Devi, driving her car. A corner is dedicated as a tribute to another beautiful woman who died tragically in a car accident, Princess Diana. A replica of the black Mercedes-Benz that crashed and killed her in Paris is kept in that space. Thakral says he likes telling stories through these ‘surprise displays’ because he wants the museum to be an enjoyable and not a boring experience.

Another unique display is a toy cart from the Indus Valley Civilisation, placed there as an example of the interest ancient Indians took in transport. “The museum was conceptualized quite literally to transport people to a bygone era,” says Thakral.

A Lasting Impression
So far, over 1.5 million visitors have visited the Museum, which has also been the recipient of prestigious tourism awards. As we leave, a crowd comes in, children in tow, eager to visit the life-sized trains, boats, and planes that they have played with in their miniature forms.