One of the oldest museums in the world

The Kolkata Indian Museum is considered as the largest museum in India. Established on 2 February, 1814 at the cradle of the Asiatic Society Building, it is the earliest museum in the Asia Pacific region. Founded by Dr Nathaniel Wallich (a botanist from Denmark), the museum is included as an Institute of national importance in the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India (It is an independent institution funded by the Government of India). Placed in Italian architectural style building designed by Walter B Grawille, the Indian Museum has over 60 galleries and is divided into six main sectors.

Opened to public in 1878, the museum displays rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies, and Mughal paintings. The sections are Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Economic Botany. With 3 floors the museum is spread out over an area of 930 sq. m. The Anthropology and Archaeology sections are located on the ground floor and include pre and proto-history, Maurya, Shunga, Shatavahana, Gandhara, Kusana, Gupta, Pala-Sena, Chandela, Hoysala, Chola art galleries besides the minor antiquity collections through the ages.

The display in the Art section is divided into paintings, textiles and decorative arts of India as also arts and crafts of Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Iran. Interesting exhibits include: an Egyptian mummy, the Buddhist stupa from Bharhut, the Buddha’s ashes, the Ashoka pillar, whose three-lion symbol became the official emblem of the Republic of India, fossil skeletons of prehistoric animals like dinosaurs, an art collection, rare antiques, and a collection of meteorites. There is also a library and publication unit, located next to the coin gallery, which has a vast collection of around 50 thousand books and journals on various subjects.