Indian Museum

The Indian Museum at 27 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, was founded in 1814 and is the oldest and largest museum in the country. The building is a large Italianate structure arranged around a central courtyard, and its galleries are spread across two floors. Collections cover archaeology, art, anthropology, geology, zoology and botany. Major draws include the Bharhut stupa railings and gateway, carved in the 2nd century BCE, a gallery of Gandhara sculpture, an Egyptian mummy, large fossil skeletons and a natural history section with stuffed animals and meteorites. Some galleries are old-fashioned in presentation, with dim lighting and dated labels, which adds to the sense of an older museum, though several have been refurbished. A thorough visit takes two to three hours, and many visitors split it by choosing three or four galleries rather than trying to see everything. The museum opens from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM and is closed on Mondays. Weekday mornings are the quietest, while weekends and school holidays bring groups of students. Admission is approximately INR 50 for Indian nationals and about INR 500 for foreign visitors, with reduced rates for children, and a camera fee may apply. The museum faces Chowringhee and is a short walk from New Market, and the nearest Metro stations are Park Street and Esplanade. The courtyard lawn and corridors are good places to rest between galleries. Families find the mummy, dinosaur-era fossils and animal halls the most engaging, while history enthusiasts head to the Bharhut and Gandhara rooms first.