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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.