Inside the temple's eastern gopuram, you'll find the Nayak-period Thousand Pillar Hall (with 985 columns) on your right. This is now the Art Museum, where you can admire at your leisure a Shiva shrine with a large bronze Nataraja at the end of a corridor of superbly carved pillars, plus many other fine bronzes and colourfully painted panels. Some of the best carvings, including Krishna with his flute and Ganesh dancing with a woman on his knee, are immediately inside the museum entrance.
