Discover India's Best Museums Live Updates: Check Out Top Museums in India

3. Government Museum, Chennai

The Government Museum in Chennai is the second oldest museum in India. It is spread over luxurious 16.25-acre grounds and is also home to the colossal Museum Theatre, which regularly hosts works by Shakespeare. The exhibits in the museum are extremely valuable and rare, just like the museum's heritage. Palm leaf manuscripts, the famous paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and the largest collection of Roman antiquities outside of Europe. The Connemara Public Library, one of the city's most iconic libraries, is also part of the museum, with a footfall of around 1000 daily visitors, and more on weekends. An iconic structure built in the Indo-Gothic style, the Government Museum, also known as the Egmore Museum, is a one-of-a-kind museum and a jewel in Indian heritage.

2. Indian Museum, Kolkata

The ninth oldest museum in the world and the largest in India, the Indian Museum is located in the city of joy – Kolkata. The first stone of the Museo del Indio was laid in 1814 and since then it has been a center of multidisciplinary activities. Popularly known as 'Jadughar', it has the best collection of contemporary paintings, holy relics of Buddha, Egyptian mummies and ancient sculptures. Apart from these, the Indian Museum boasts some of the most exquisite collections of Mughal ornaments, fossils, skeletons, antiquities, armor and amazing paintings.

Currently, the museum has 35 galleries that have been divided into six categories, namely Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, Zoology and Economic Botany. For the history curious, there is also a library and a bookstore within the museum premises. The Indian Museum recently celebrated its bicentennial with great fervor in February 2014. With its splendid collection, the museum takes you back in time to witness our fascinating past.

Indian Museum of Architecture   

The Indian Museum structure is an architectural grandeur designed by the famous architect Walter B Grawille in the Italianate style. The building consists of three floors, each of which covers an area of about 930 square meters. There are a total of sixty galleries divided into six main sections, namely: Anthropology, Art, Archaeology, Zoology, Botany, and Geology.

Archeology Section: Archeology Section includes Prehistoric and Protohistoric Gallery, Main Entrance Gallery, Bharhut Gallery, Gandhara Gallery, Long Archeology Gallery, Bronze Gallery, Coin Gallery, Minor Art Gallery and the Egyptian gallery.

Art Section: This includes Mughal Painting Gallery, Bengal Painting Gallery, Textile and Decorative Art Gallery, South East Asia Gallery.

Anthropology Section: The Paleo-Anthropology Gallery, the Cultural Anthropology Gallery, the Masks Gallery, and the Musical Instruments Gallery are included in the Anthropology Section.

Zoology Section: The Zoology Section includes the Fish Gallery, the Amphibian and Reptile Gallery, the Bird Gallery, the Mammal Gallery, and the Ecology Gallery.

Geology Section: The Siwalik Gallery, the Invertebrate Fossils Gallery, the Earth Rocks and Minerals Gallery, and the Meteorites Gallery with Gems Section are included in the Geology Section.

Botanical Section: The Botanical Section of the Indian Museum has exhaustible resources on Indian timbers, foodstuffs, medicinal products, plant fibers, oil and oilseeds and various crops commonly grown in India.

1. National Museum, Delhi Overview

Also known as the National Museum of India, the National Museum of New Delhi is one of the largest museums in India, located at the corner of Janpath and Maulana Azad Road. Established in 1949, the plans for the majestic repository were prepared by the Gwyer Committee established by the Government of India in 1946. Today, the museum boasts of holding a whopping 200,000 works of art, both Indian and foreign, and is maintained by the Ministry of Culture, Department of India. Covering a wide range of products from prehistoric times to modern works of art, the museum traces the rich cultural heritage of nations worldwide, going back more than 5,000 years.

The museum also houses the Institute of the National Museum of Arts History, Conservation and Museology, which was added as a different section in 1983. Since 1989, this section has offered different courses in Arts History, Conservation and Museology for masters and doctorates. In addition, the repository has works from the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. relics, dating from the time of Buddha and the Harappan civilization, in addition to numerous wood carvings, paintings, sculptures, murals, textiles, armoury, etc. The two-story building has segregated chambers to display antiquities from different periods. It covers all departments, including Archaeology, Decorative Arts, Jewelry, Manuscripts, Textiles, Numismatics, Epigraphy, Central Asian Antiquities, Anthropology, Pre-Columbian American and Western Art Collections. The museum is an incomparable mix of the glorious past and the wonderful present.

Galleries in National Museum

The National Museum boasts a large number of galleries that hold a large number of exhibits and relics of ancient cultural heritage. Mentioned here are some of the various galleries present in the museum.

1. Harappan Gallery  

2. Maurya, Shunga and Satvahana Art Gallery 

 3. Kushana Gallery 

4. Gupta Gallery 

 5. Medieval Gallery 

 6. Decorative Arts Gallery 

 7. Miniature Painting Gallery 

8. Buddhist Art Section