Tanjore or Thanjavur as it is called today acquired its name from the ancient pronunciation of the place, which was then called "Thanjavoor". It was then the capital of the mighty Chola Empire. The Chola rulers besides being great warriors were builders of magnificent temples and great patrons of arts.

The Tanjore School of Paintings dates back to the 16th century. However, there are only a few paintings that date back that far. The fact remains that most of the paintings that exist today are not even a hundred years old. As a perfect amalgamation of art and craft, Tanjore paintings are crafted keeping in mind the themes of Hindu gods and goddesses. What makes Tanjore painting stands out from rest is the vibrant colors and usage of decorative jewelers with stones and cut glasses depicting larger than life figures.

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Raja Raja Chola during his rule built the Tanjore Brihadeeswarar temple. Otherwise called ' Big Temple ' (Periya Koil), the temple was built by the King on a sprawling piece of land. The greatness of this temple is marked by the enormous Lingam - the 'Brihadeeswarar' which is the prime deity of the shrine. The tall Lingam is reached by the Gurukkal (priests) through the stairs leading to the top. This temple is facing along the East direction and it has three main entrances namely "Keralandagam", "RajaRajan" and "Anukkan". When we go through these three vayils, we can reach the inside of the vayils', it measures 500 m in length and 250 m in breadth.

The district of Tanjore is a lush agricultural province characterised by riveting expanses of verdant fields and groves. The Ideal River View Resort is located in a quiet, peaceful setting on the banks of a tributary of the Cauvery, the Vennar, beyond the Tanjore city limits. It looks out on a rustic landscape of green paddy fields and coconut palms.

Tanjore traditional paintings are a very important form of classical Indian school of paintings, finding their origins in the prosperous Chola period of 9th century A.D. The characteristic of Tanjore paintings if the multi-layered process by the the artist creates the paintings, as also the distinctly South Indian accent attributed to the paintings.

Located just by the side of the art gallery, the Saraswati Mahal Library has a huge collection of about 30,000 palm leaf and paper manuscripts in Indian and European languages. It also has some Tamil works including treatises on medicine, and commentaries on works from the Sangam period. It was built during 1700 AD. You can visit the nearby museum that houses some interesting exhibits like the entire range of the Ramayana written on palm leaf.