Indian Museum

May 24, 2013 December 20, 2014

Introduction

Indian Museum is a premier institution of Govt of India engaged in re-organization and renovation of galleries and also in obtaining ethnographic specimen and techno socio and economic cultural data. It was founded in 1814 by the Asiatic society. It is the earliest and the largest multipurpose Museum not only in the Indian subcontinent but also in the Asia-Pacific region of the world.

Functions and Powers

The Indian Museum is an autonomous organisation under the ministry of Culture. It is located at Kolkata. The museum has six sections comprising thirty five galleries of cultural and scientific artefacts namely Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Economic Botany.

The museum is a multipurpose institution with multidisciplinary activities. It is being included as an Institute of national importance in the seventh schedule of the Constitution of India.

It houses a large number of ancient collections of precious artifacts and sculptures. Modernization of Indian Museum will be taken up during 2013-14 on the occasion of its bicentenary celebration.

The important collections of the museum are: an Egyptian mummy, the Buddhist stupa from Bharhut, the Buddha’s ashes, the Ashoka pillar, fossil skeletons of prehistoric animals, an art collection, rare antiques, and a collection of meteorites.