Patna Museum

Top choice in Bihar


Housed in a majestic colonial-era building, this museum contains a splendid collection of Mauryan and Gupta stone sculptures, some beautiful bronze Buddhist statuary, and a gallery of early-19th-century landscape paintings by Thomas and William Daniell. Don't miss the fine collection of thangkas (Tibetan cloth paintings) brought to India by the Bengali Tibetologist and traveller Rahul Sankrityayan in the early 20th century.

Upstairs in a locked gallery (₹250) you can glimpse a tiny casket believed to contain some of Buddha’s ashes that were retrieved from Vaishali. This relic, however, may be moved to the newer Bihar Museum at some point.


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