Indian Museum

The Kolkata Indian Museum established long back in 1814 in the Asiatic Society Building was founded by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, a botanist from Denmark. It  is one of the earliest museums established in the world and considered the largest in the country. In 1875, it was shifted to the new building in Italian architectural style designed by Walter B Grawille. Opened to public in 1878, the museum has over 60 galleries under six main sectors of Art, Anthropology, Archaeology, Geology, Industry and Zoology. The museum with 3 floors is spread out over an area of 930 sq.mts. It is an independent institution funded by the Government of India.

The Anthropology and Archaeology sections are located on the ground floor. 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.

Anthropological Section displays several objects like the costumes, ornaments, implements of the various tribes and gives an insight to the cultural life of both tribal and non-tribal people of India. There is also a gallery of rare musical instruments. 

Archaeological Section is the collection of stone-age artifacts from India and abroad, pre-historic antiquities from Mohenjodaro, Harappa etc. Some of the galleries in this section are Bharhut, Egyptian, Coins, Orissan Art, Gandhara etc. Bharhut gallery houses the railings and gateway of the Buddhist Stupa with carvings and sculptures depicting scenes from Buddha's life excavated from Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh in 1874 by Sir Alexander Cunningham. There is also an urn containing Buddha's ashes. Due to this the museum has become a place of pilgrimage. Gandhara gallery holds the best collection of Buddhist Sculptures from Gandhara region and other stone sculptures. The Egyptian gallery has a 4000 year old 'mummy', sculptures, paintings etc. The coin gallery has a collection of coins from the 5th century B.C. which displays gold coins issued by Kanishka, Samudragupta, Kumaragupta-1, Akbar and Jahangir.