Page 82 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

80  DELHI AREA B Y AREA

5 National Museum

Five millennia of Indian history can be explored at the
National Museum, with a collection of more than
200,000 pieces of Indian art. The nucleus collection
of about 1,000 artifacts was sent to London in the
winter of 1948–9 for an exhibition at the Royal
Academy’s Burlington House. After its return, it was
housed in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan,
until the present building, built of the same beige and
pink stone as the imposing new capital, was complete . Dara Shikoh’s
in 1960. The museum’s collection of Indus Valley relics Marriage Procession
An 18th-century Mughal
and Central Asian treasures from the Silk Route is miniature painting in gold
considered among the finest in the world. and natural pigments.

Maritime Heritage Gallery
. Nataraja
This 12th-century
Chola statue The Coins Gallery
of the cosmic displays an impressive
dance of Lord collection of coins.
Shiva is the
centrepiece of
the museum’s
bronzes from
South India.

Ground floor

. Kubera
A rare example of
a Hindu god shown
as a 2nd-century
Kushana grandee
with marked Library
Central Asian
features is
among a large
collection of
Mathura Art.

Harappan Civilization Gallery

The Serindian Collection
Almost 700 years after the Silk
Route fell into disuse, Sir Aurel Stein, Entrance
a British archaeologist, led a series
of three expeditions (1900–16) to Audio-visual room
uncover its treasures. On view at the
National Museum, Stein’s Central Terracotta Mask
Asian collection of the artifacts he This unusual human mask
found in the Taklamakan Desert has made of terracotta dates
silk paintings, Buddhist manuscripts back to 2700 BC, and
Silk painting, and valuable records of life along was unearthed in
7th–8th century this ancient trade route. Mohenjodaro in the
early 20th century.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p694 and pp706–707

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