National Museum Tour

Attractions in Delhi

Tour Duration: 01 Day

Destinations: Delhi

Attractions in Delhi

National Museum Tour

Overview

The National Museum, New Delhi, as we see it today, has an interesting beginning. The blueprint for establishing the National Museum in Delhi was prepared by the Maurice Gwyer Committee in May 1946. An Exhibition of Indian Art, consisting of selected artefacts from various museums of India was organized by the Royal Academy, London with the cooperation of Government of India and Britain. The Exhibition went on display in the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48. It was decided to display the same collection in Delhi, before the return of exhibits to their respective museums. An exhibition was organized in the Rashtrapati Bhawan (President’s residence), New Delhi in 1949, which turned out to be a great success. This event proved responsible for the creation of the National Museum.

Tour Itinerary

The palatial building houses more than 2,06,000 masterpieces, spanning several centuries, culture and civilizations. Spread across 3 floors, it has exhibits ranging from the prehistoric era to modern, contemporary times, covering nearly 5,000 of history. Talking about the interesting and impressive collection, you can find a lot of stuff including seals, pottery, terracotta figurines, jewellery etc related to Harappan Civilisation.

The Archaeological Galleries here boasts of about 800 sculptures which are mostly made of bronze, terracotta and stone, dating to 3rd Century BC to 19th century A.D. However, the museum is most renowned for its Buddhist art including the sacred relics of Buddha collected from different countries. Then there is a separate place dedicated to Indian miniature paintings which belong to styles such as Deccani, Pahari, Central Indian and Rajasthani, dating from 1000 A.D. to 1900 A.D. The theme based painting beautifully demonstrate the epics like Bhagwatpurana, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Baramasa, Vishnu Purana and Panchatantra. In addition to these attractions, there is a lot more to discover once you are at National Museum

and it is recommended to plan at least a day if you really want to soak up what all the museum has to offer.

The vision / motto of National Museum is :

To collect art objects of Historical, Cultural and Artistic significance for the purpose to display, protection, preservation and interpretation (research).

To disseminate knowledge about the significance of the objects in respect of history, culture and artistic excellence and achievements.

To serve as cultural centre for enjoyment and interaction of the people in artistic and cultural activity.

To serve as epitome of national identity.