Set up by the renowned political cartoonist, K. Shankar Pillai, Shankar’s International Dolls Museum has one of the largest collections of costume dolls anywhere in the world, with over 6,000 dolls from 85 Countries. Housed in the building of the Children’s Book Trust on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg the Museum is divided into two equal halves.

One section has exhibits from European countries, the U.K., the U.S.A, Australia, New Zealand, Common wealth of Independent States and the other from Asian countries, the Middle East, Africa and India. There are also special displays besides a representative collection from the over 150 kinds of authentic Indian costume dolls made at the Dolls Workshop attached to the Museum.

Each doll is hand crafted after meticulous research into the physical attributes, dress and jewellery of individual characters. One can find just about every kind of a doll one needs to see in Shankar's International Dolls Museum. A third of the collection has been gathered from different parts of India. Each doll is resplendently dressed in costumes that represent the country or the region they come from.