Indian Museum

Founded in 1814 by the Asiatic Society, the Indian Museum is the oldest and largest museum in India and one of the oldest in the world outside Europe, occupying an Italianate building on Chowringhee around a colonnaded courtyard. Its archaeological collection is the strength: the Bharhut gallery holds the railing and gateway of a second-century BC stupa, reassembled, with narrative medallions of Jataka stories; there are Gandhara sculptures, Ashokan material and a Buddha relic casket. Other galleries cover geology, zoology, botany and anthropology, with a much-visited Egyptian mummy and a large meteorite among the popular exhibits.

Background

The museum was once called the Imperial Museum of Calcutta, and it ranks ninth among the world's oldest museums. Its roots lie in the Asiatic Society of Bengal, set up by Sir William Jones in 1784, whose members first proposed a museum in 1796. On 2 February 1814 the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich offered his own collection along with the society's and volunteered to serve as curator. The foundation stone at the present site was laid in 1867, and the building designed by W L Granville was completed in 1875. Today the collection numbers 2.5 million objects in six sections and thirty five galleries, covering zoology, geology, anthropology, archaeology, Indian art and economic botany.

Source: Wikipedia, "Indian Museum"

What you'll find

• The Bharhut railing - a second-century BC stupa gateway reassembled.
• The Gandhara sculpture - Greco-Buddhist figures from the northwest.
• The Egyptian mummy - the museum's most visited single object.
• The colonnaded courtyard - the Italianate building around its central court.

When to go

October to March; the museum closes on Mondays. Weekends and school holidays are very busy. Kolkata summers are hot and the galleries are only partly cooled.

Good to know

Presentation in many galleries is dated and labelling uneven. Some sections are closed for renovation at any given time. Photography is charged and restricted in places.

Nearby

Park Street lies east; the Victoria Memorial is south.

Key facts