​Allahabad Museum

At the edge of the Chandrashekhar Azad Park, the Allahabad Museum was established in 1931 as a natural history museum but has since grown to become well-known for its collection of stone sculptures, terracottas, coins, archaeological objects and paintings. Outside the museum, you can see a display of sculptures from archaeological sites. Inside, the sculpture gallery lie stone sculptures and terracottas from sites such as Mathura, Bhumra, Jamsot, Khajuraho, Barhut, Gandhara, Kausambi, Sarnath, Pataliputra, Rajghat, Jhusi, Ahichchhatra, Patna, Buxar, Chandraketugarh and other sites, including some stunning works from the Gupta period found in Madhya Pradesh, Buddhist pieces from Kausambi and Gandhara, and Shiva temple remains from Jamsot.

The museum displays a number of Indian paintings from 15th century onwards including works of the Mughal, Pahari and Basohli School, Rajasthani miniatures, and painters of the Bengal School of Art like Tagore, Nandlal Bose, Jamini Roy, Asit Kumar Haldar, Sudhir Khastgir, Kshitindranath Majumdar and the Rajasthani artist Ramgopal Vijayvargiya.
There is also a display of paintings by the Russian artist, Nicholas Roerich who is famous for his great love for the Himalayas which he painted in many canvases from his base at Naggar in the Kulu Valley. He formed the Roerich Center of Art and Culture in Allahabad in the 1930s. Roerich donated nineteen paintings to the Allahabad Museum, these works are on display along with exhibits of his son, Svetoslav Roerich.

Expectedly, there is a fair collection of memorabilia related to Jawaharlal Nehru including manuscripts, letters to and from Nehru and his autobiography. The ‘Gandhi Smrithi Vahan’ is the 1947 Ford used to carry Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes. One of the newer additions is a rock art gallery. Those interested in Indian literature will find much reference material on many prominent writers in Hindi and Urdu. Other collections include archaeological finds from excavations, arms and armour, decorative arts, coins, textiles, etc.