The National Museum, Delhi (one of the largest museums in India) holds an incredible collection of pre-historic items and modern-day art, making it a must-visit for all history buffs. Established in the year 1949, the blueprints were prepared by the Gwyer committee in the year 1946. With over 200,000 works of art, both Indian and foreign, the museum offers a host of exhibits for visitors. Pre-Columbian and Western art, antique arms and armour, ancient coin collections and delicate miniature paintings from 1,000 to 1,900 AD are just some of the collections on display.
In the year 1983, National Museum Delhi also included National Institute of History of Arts, Conservation, and Musicology, and since 1989, this department has been running courses for masters and doctoral degrees in the same subject. And let us tell you, this museum is student and researcher-friendly with a handy library containing a variety of books on history, art, and culture for easy reference and research. There is also a photography department that photo documents every artifact in the museum, prints of which are available to scholars and students on request.
If you thought these reasons were enough to pay a visit there are several more. The museum also has a good number of galleries present which include Harappan Gallery (has artifacts from the Indus Valley Civilisation), Kushana Gallery (gallery of the Gandhara school of art and Mathura school of art), Gupta Gallery (you will notice exhibits of Goddess Yamuna and Ganga and sculptures of other gods), Miniature Painting gallery (has around 17000 paintings from all over India), among others.
Just in case you wish to know about everything in much depth, you can avail their service of an audio tour of 75 minutes. It's available in Hindi, English, Japanese, French, and German. If you wish to listen to this in Hindi, the fee is INR 100, while for other languages is INR 150.
Entry fee for Indians is INR 20 and operational hours are 10 AM to 6 PM. If you are wondering how to reach, Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan are the nearest metro stations located on the yellow line. From there, you'll be able to catch an auto or book a cab easily.
