Jain Heritage Museum
Culture Architecture I Koba, Gujarat
Client Shree Mahavir Jain Aradhna Kendra
Area 95,000 Sq. ft
Status Completed 2026
Team Shimul Javeri Kadri, Sarika Shetty, Riddhi Shah, Saivi Shah, Nikita Rathish
The museum houses
the single largest collection of Jain manuscripts in India,
Recently inaugurated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi, Samrat
Samprati Museum of Jain Heritage in Koba, Gujarat, has been designed by SJK Architects to
represent the Jain values of ahimsa (non-violence), austerity, and restraint.
Named after Samrat Samprati, the grandson of Ashoka and a revered figure in Jain tradition
known for his commitment to non-violence and propagation of Jainism, the museum houses
the single largest collection of Jain manuscripts in India, alongside rare artefacts such as
bronzes, stone sculptures, miniature paintings, and ritual objects that showcase the rich
historical, cultural, and spiritual legacy of Jainism.
The context of Jain institutions, among trees
The museum is located on the campus of the Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra (SMJK), a significant centre of Jain scholarship and pilgrimage situated along the Gandhinagar-Rajasthan highway in Koba, a town in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The museum occupies a two-acre plot sandwiched between the temple (Derasar) and Gyan Mandir to its south, with a rest house (Dharamshala) and dining area (Bhojanalay) to its north. Previously a public thoroughfare connecting these facilities, the campus is frequented by Jain scholars and pilgrims. he vastness of the collection meant that only one-tenth of the archive could be displayed at any given time in the museum. As such, the brief called for secure storage and conservation infrastructure alongside the exhibition spaces, comprising reserve vaults and conservation labs observing international environmental control standards.
The shallow water body at its centre generates a soothing microclimate that counters the region's dry heat.
Recognising that this plot previously served as a public thoroughfare for anyone who visited the SMJK campus, we extended the brief to create a porous ground-floor space, non-ticketed and accessible to all, with the hope that it will enable the museum to serve as a thriving community space—a truly public environment to be enjoyed by school children, devotees, scholars, and tourists. The shallow water body at its centre generates a soothing microclimate that counters the region's dry heat. Further shaded by two mature neem trees, the courtyard functions effectively as a civic forecourt as well as a comfortable place of rest. The conservation laboratory, reserve vault, and temporary exhibition gallery are planned along the northern edge of this level, with visitor and staff movement segregated efficiently through dedicated access points. Ticketed access begins on the first floor, ensuring security standards are maintained without compromising the openness below.
A living repository : Connecting Jain heritage & site
The plan draws inspiration from that of the Ranakpur Jain Temple, regarded as one of the five most sacred pilgrimage sites of Jainism, and the concentric organisation of mandala/yantra diagrams prevalent in Jain cosmological thought. Rather than replicating this geometry, the architects have simplified its governing logic into a modernist form shorn of ornamentation, expressing historical precedent in a contemporary avatar, and the religion’s tenet of austerity, in a singular gesture.
This cubical form is hollowed at its centre to host a serene water body in an open-to-sky courtyard that preserves all existing trees, embodying ahimsa, the Jain tenet of non-violence.
Philosophy as Space
Our design ensures that storytelling begins well before a visitor encounters any artefact. The building is conceived as an all-white, modernist cube measuring 65 m by 65 m, rising across three floors to a height of 15 metres; permanent galleries are spread over 40,000 sq. ft. of its second and third floors. This cubical form is hollowed at its centre to host a serene water body in an open-to-sky courtyard that preserves all existing trees, embodying ahimsa, the Jain tenet of non-violence. The second and third floors are lifted on slender stilts to carve out a large, porous, public ground level.