Indian Museum

The Indian Museum is on Jawaharlal Nehru Road, formerly Chowringhee Road, in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, and is the oldest and largest museum in India. It was founded in 1814 by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, with the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich as its first superintendent, and moved into its present Italianate building in 1875. The building was designed by Walter Granville and is built around a large central courtyard with colonnaded verandahs, Corinthian columns and a grand staircase. The collection is divided into six sections: art, archaeology, anthropology, geology, zoology and botany. Among the best known pieces are the Bharhut stupa gallery, with carved Buddhist railings and gateways of the 2nd century BCE; the Ashokan lion capital of the RampurvA bull; Gandhara sculpture; and a 4,000 year old Egyptian mummy, which draws many school groups. The geology and palaeontology galleries hold meteorites, fossils and dinosaur bones, and the zoology halls hold stuffed animals and skeletons, including a large whale skeleton. The museum also has collections of Indian paintings, textiles, coins, and ornaments. Display methods are largely traditional and thematic, with glass cases and printed labels, and some galleries are being refreshed. Restoration work has included repairs to the roof and facade, repainting and the reorganisation of galleries by the Ministry of Culture, which manages the museum. It is large enough that a complete visit takes most of a day, and the courtyard offers a quiet place to rest. The museum is near Park Street, New Market and the Maidan, and the nearest metro station is Park Street.