Partition Museum

A one-of-a-kind museum in the world, The Partition Museum was established in 17th August 2017 marking the day as the Partition Remembrance Day. The museum aims to tell stories about the Partition of the Indian sub-continent, the affected people, and its consequences. With the help of oral stories, letters, documents, artifacts, videos, belongings, and drafts from the pre-independent era, the museum brings to life the lost lives of over 2 million people and about 18 million people who lost their homes during the Partition.

About the Museum

A one-of-a-kind museum in the world, Partition Museum in Amritsar, Punjab, is a museum dedicated to the Partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. The partition was predominantly the most defining event in the history of the Indian sub-continent. It is estimated that up to 18 million people lost their homes and 2 million people lost their lives. Partition Museum is considered People’s Museum that focuses on telling people about the millions of lives impacted with the help of oral stories, refugee artifacts, personal artifacts, photographs, letters, and original documents from that period.

The Partition Museum was opened to the public on 17th August 2017, marking it the Partition Remembrance Day, because on this day in 1947 the actual partition line was drawn between India and Pakistan. The museum is housed inside the historic Town Hall building in Amritsar which is just a 5-minute walk away from the majestic Golden Temple. The building had a court used for small causes, city police headquarters, a free library, municipal offices, and a meeting room. In 1919, the building suffered huge damage during the Punjab uprising, was then renovated and rebuilt for it to witness damage during the partition in 1947.

The Partition Museum displays the partition of the Indian sub-continent in a chronological arc that begins from the pre-independent era, moves on to the independence movement along with all the social, cultural, and political events up to 1947, and ultimately leading to the partition and its consequences. It has been asked from the people and from all the affected families of the Partition to come and share their stories of their relatives and their grandparents to gather their memories and memorabilia. The museum also acts as a resource Centre for the study and understanding of the Partition with all the advanced technologies and audiovisuals, grabbing the attention of visitors of all age groups. The museum received support from many national and international institutions and grabbed the attention of the media. Various universities, museums, and private archives helped in the gathering of information and collectibles to display in the Partition Museum such as letters, documents, facts, personal belongings of people affected, and much more.