State Museum

The State Museum is located in a modern three-storeyed building of the Prince of Wales Zoological Gardens in Banarasi Bagh, Lucknow. Earlier, this oldest museum in UP was situated in the historic Choti Chattar Manzil as a Municipal institution and became a Provincial Museum in 1833. It was then shifted to the Lal Baradari, the erstwhile Coronation Hall of the Nawabs of Avadh in 1884. In 1950 the Provincial Museum was redesignated as the State Museum, Lucknow. Later in 1963 the new building was established. It was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then prime minister of India.

The museum houses a collection of about 83000 specimens in its 5 galleries namely archeological, numismatic, art, natural history and ethnography. Initially its collection includes the Avadh arts and objects related to the customs, habits and mythology of India and gradually it expanded in numbers, which include various excavated antiquities from Piparahawa, Kapilavastu, the birth place of Buddha. At present it has developed into a multi purpose museum with rarest and valuable collection of gold coins, bronzes, textiles, sculptures, ancient paintings, decorative arts, natural history and anthropological specimens. 

One can find a statue of Saraswati famous for the earliest depiction (2nd century AD), exquisite stone sculptures of Balarama and a Panch-Mukhi Shiv Lingam(2nd century) and antique collection of coins dates from 6th century BC to the present day in the museum. The exceptional invaluables include : An inscribed wine jar bearing the name of Aurangzeb Alamgir (1 7th century), A jade chamakali with the name 'jahangir' and the date 1036 AD, A 16th century painting of a scene from the Kalpasutra, depicting an elephant rider and a Jain muni, A 16th century copy of the Harivansha in Persian with nine illustrations, Rare silver and gold coins, a prehistoric anthropomorphic figure, A fossilized plant., The Egyptian mummies, The wooden sarcophagus, dating back to 1000 BC.

The museum also displays a magnificent collection of  Hindu, Buddhist and Jain works from the 1st-11th century exhibits, musical instruments and the pistol of Chandrashekhar Azad, the famous freedom fighter, a series of marble statues belong to the Raj period can be found in the backyard of the State Museum. The archaeology section in the Lai Baradari, the Kaisarbagh unit of the museum displays the excavated antiquities from Uttar Pradesh. The Jahangir's silver zodiac coins exhibited in the numismatic gallery is very attractive. The modeling section of the museum prepare replicas of selected pieces in plaster of paris & fibre-glass. The Museum is a research centre for Kanpur University with a specialized reference library. It has a well equipped photographic and conservation laboratories mainly for the treatment and renovation of art objects. It is also a center of educational and cultural activities. It organizes workshops, lectures, symposia, film shows and exhibitions highlighting Indian culture and archeology.  The museum opens from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm on all days except Monday.