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The Story
OrganizerThe Indian Museum grew out of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, founded in 1784, whose collections formed the nucleus of a public museum established in 1814 under the Danish botanist Nathaniel Wallich. Moved to its grand Chowringhee building in 1878, it expanded across the sciences and the arts and acquired landmark antiquities, most famously the second-century Bharhut stupa railings, becoming a foundational institution of museum culture and scholarship in India.
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Cultural Significance
▾As India's oldest and largest museum, the Indian Museum is a foundational institution of the country's cultural and scientific heritage, safeguarding antiquities of national and world importance and shaping the history of museums in South Asia.