Allahabad Museum

Allahabad Museum is located in Chandrashekhar Azad Park in Allahabad and is considered as the museum of national significance for its rich and varied collection of ancient archaeological artifacts and many other personalia of Nehru family Gandhi family and other famous personalities of Allahabad. An ideal place for history and art buffs and for every traveler planning a trip to Allahabad.

About the Museum

Located in the lush green garden of Chandrashekhar Azad Park, also known as Company Bagh, the Allahabad Museum was inaugurated in 1878 to house several historic collections and a public library but due to some unforeseen circumstances in 1881, the museum had to be shut down. Later on in 1923-24, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the President of the Allahabad Municipal Board, and Pt. Brijmohan Vyas took the initiative and efforts to establish a new museum in the city. In 1931, under the administration of Pt. Brijmohan Vyas, a new museum was established in the Municipal Building with an impressive collection of ancient sculptures from Bharhut and Bhumra as well as the art collections of Abanindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, Gaganendranath Tagore, Asit Kumar Haldar of Bengal School of Paintings, along with the paintings of European artists such as Nicholas Roerich and AnagarikGovinda, a monk from Germany, with whose collection the administration could create a gallery for contemporary art.

In the year 1942, some more collectibles were added to the museum, especially the Nehru Personalia Collection, and as the collection went on increasing the need for shifting the museum to a new premise became dire. The present museum was inaugurated in 1954 at the Chandrashekhar Azad Park or the Company Bagh and it was professed as the museum of national significance under the Ministry of Culture Government of India for its assorted and rich assemblage of archaeological artifacts and art treasures. Currently, the museum is administered and financially controlled by the Ministry of Culture, GOI.

Visitors at the museum will witness a rich and varied collection of antiques, art, sculptures, paintings, ceramics, coins, archaeological objects, farmans from the Mughal era, illustrated manuscripts, decorative art pieces, arms and ammunitions, natural history specimens, textiles, photographs, prints and personalia collection related to Nehru family and Gandhi family, Literary personalities of Allahabad like Sumitra Nandan Pant, Suryakant Tripathi ‘Nirala’, Premchand, and Mahadevi Verma. The museum has 16 different galleries for displaying such a vast variety of collections and Exhibition Halls named A.K. Coomaraswamy Memorial Hall and a Central Hall for displaying different exhibitions from time to time to showcase the antiques and art objects from the reserved collection of the museum.