The National Museum, New Delhi

The National Museum sits on Janpath in the wide, planned quarter of New Delhi and holds the country's broadest single collection, roughly five thousand years of material in one building. The Harappan gallery is the reason many people come: seals, pottery, jewellery and the small bronze figure known as the Dancing Girl, excavated at Mohenjo-daro. Beyond it are stone sculpture from Gandhara and the temple centuries, bronzes from the south, manuscripts, arms and armour, coins, textiles and a large holding of miniature paintings from the Mughal, Rajput and Pahari schools. Displays are uneven in age and lighting, and some galleries feel unchanged for decades, but the objects themselves are first rank.

History

The idea of a National Museum was proposed in 1946 by the Gwyer Committee, whose members included Sir Mortimer Wheeler, then head of the Archaeological Survey of India. Its roots lie in an exhibition of Indian art at the Royal Academy in London in the winter of 1947-48, and the museum was established in 1949; its first director was Grace Morley, earlier the founding director of the San Francisco Museum of Art (Wikipedia, National Museum of India).

What's there

• The Harappan gallery - seals, pottery, jewellery and the small bronze Dancing Girl from Mohenjo-daro.
• Stone and bronze sculpture - Gandharan Buddhas and South Indian temple bronzes across several rooms.
• Miniature painting - Mughal, Rajput and Pahari works, usually shown in deliberately low light.
• Textiles, arms and coins - the applied-art galleries upstairs, consistently quieter than the ground floor.

When to go

October to March is the comfortable season in Delhi, and the museum also works as a retreat from the heat in April and May. It closes on Mondays and on some public holidays. Mornings are quietest; school groups arrive mid-morning on weekdays. Allow extra time if you want the audio guide, which is worth the small fee.

Things to know

Curation is dated in places, with typed labels, dim cases and galleries that shut without notice. Photography rules change, and cameras and bags usually go into a cloakroom. The building is large and the signage is poor, so you will backtrack more than once. A good deal of the strongest material is not on display at all.

Nearby

India Gate and the shops of Connaught Place are short rides away, with Humayun's Tomb about half an hour east.

Key facts