National Museum New Delhi

Vital Information for Visitors

Address:

National Museum, Janpath Rd, Rajpath Crossing, Central Secretariat, New Delhi

Open & Close:

Open on all days except Monday From 10 AM to 5 PM

Entry Fees:

Foreigner - INR 650 per person
Indian - INR 20 per person

Duration:

2 hrs to 3 hrs

Famous For:

Archaeology & history

National Museum is a rich, well chronicled and sophisticatedly preserved artefacts, sculptures, manuscripts, paintings, art and music instruments. National Museum keeps a visitor mesmerized and portrays proud past and ancestral gift. The Royal Academy's winter exhibition at Burlington House, London (1947-48) was the inspiration for India's National Museum, which opened on its present site in 1960. National Museum consists of three floors. The first (ground) floor is dedicated to sculptures and prehistoric artefacts. Second floor houses manuscripts, miniature paintings and antiquities. The third floor displays a surprise, pre-Columbian art from America, and a musical instrument collection. Most groups of exhibits are arranged chronologically.

There are many items deserving special interest and attention but few like massive carved elephant from the Sunga period, relics of the Buddha which were discovered only in 1972; a bust of Lord Vishnu found at Lal Kot (the first Delhi); the Babur Nama manuscript, written by the first Mogul emperor himself; the memoirs of Jahangir; an illuminated Mahabharata; the collection of miniature paintings, particularly the jewel-like examples from the Mughal period; Mayan terracotta from Mexico; and Inca metalwork from Peru cannot be missed.