National Museum of Nepal

National Museum is the first museum that lies on the bottom level of Swayambhu, a holy hill of Kathmandu Valley. It occupies about 50 Ropani of land with different types of buildings, gardens, and opens space in its compound. Now it provides the service to collect and display rare and precious art heritages. The history of this museum shows that at the beginning it was an Arsenal house, built by Prime Minister General Bhimsen Thapa in 1824. After it, in 1926 Rana Prime Minister Chandra Shumsher added two wings in the north and south of the main building and it was given the name of Silkhana Museum. Later in 1938 Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher changed its name to Nepal Museum and its doors were opened to the public on 12th February 1939 (Amatya,1999:45).

In the beginning, the buildings of this museum were not constructed for the purpose of storage, conservation, preservation, and displays of art heritages. While it developed as a museum it realized difficult to manage it inappropriate manner. For fulfilling that requirement, then Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher has established Judhha Jatiya Kala Bhavan in front of the Nepal Museum in 1943 A.D. and opened to the public on 18th April 1943 A.D. After it, there is an art section of the Buddhist collection, which was extended through the financial support of the Japanese Government in 1997A.D.

Passing time this museum has been facing changing administrative system and managerial situation. From the early till to 1951 A.D. it was regulated as a separate department of the government. It shifted its administrative authority under the Ministry of Education under the leadership of a curator from 1951 A.D., which remains till to 1962 A.D. Later on, it is managed by the Department of Archaeology till now. As per the management, the name of this museum is being changed. In the beginning, it was known as Arsenal Museum which was transformed into Nepal Museum in 1939 A.D. Later on, it changed its name to National Museum in 1968 A.D., which is remained popular till today. Now, mainly historical galleries, Judhhajatiya art galleries, and Buddhist art galleries are providing service to visitors to this museum. Gradually, it becomes an important destination for the visitors like students, and international and domestic tourists.

The museum also has an auditorium having a sitting capacity of 142 participants with a comfortable chair with a podium facilitated, a good audiovisual and lighting system. It complexes are provided with gardens and are also good for a day’s outing for a family with children and spend a day in an academic tour and relaxation.

Location

The National Museum of Nepal is in the city of Kathmandu at a short distance from the stupa. The classical building of the museum is on the Western side of the river Vishnu against a hilly background. Entering the museum, on the left is the Art Gallery displaying statues, wood carvings and paintings. The building straight ahead is the Buddhist Art Gallery displaying Buddhist art objects while the building on the right is the Museum of Natural History.

Art Gallery

The Art Gallery exhibits metal works, wood and stone carvings. Prominent among the stone images is the one of Licchavi King Jayavarma of the second century. This large statue found in Handigaon stands majestically after being restored by an Italian project. Four stolen sculptures — the head of the 12th century Veenadharini Saraswati from Pharping's Kamalpokhari; the ninth century Buddha from Bhinchhe Bahal, Patan; the 14th century Surya from Panauti's Triveni Ghat and the tenth century Garudasana Vishnu from Hyumat Tole, Kathmandu — received from a Los Angeles based art-collector, have remained artifacts of great interest. These objects are kept in the stone work section of the gallery.

Nritya Devi is a restored wooden sculpture of a dancing goddess of the 15th century stored in the wood-carving section. Intricate motifs, carved on teak, sal or rose wood, on mountable window frames give a sense of refinement in woodcarving. A series of paintings depicting Krishna's miraculous deeds known as "Krishna Lila" are important artwork and covers major part of the gallery in the painting section.

Buddhist Art Gallery

The Buddhist Art Gallery stores Buddhist paintings, sculptures and ritualistic objects. To provide a glimpse of the Buddhist art of the kingdom of Nepal, this gallery has been divided into three sections: the Terai, Kathmandu Valley and northern Himalayan sections. The Terai section is adorned with photographs of Lord Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini. Chaityas (stupas), statues of Buddha and Bodhisattvas cast in bronze comprise the Kathmandu valley section. The northern Himalayan section reflects the influence of Tibetan Buddhism, which apparently developed many rites and rituals. Therefore, ritualistic objects like ''phurpa'' (magical dart used especially for the ritual slaying of human effigy of foes) and ''dorje'' (represents thunder bolt) are found in this section. Thangka paintings made on cotton canvas or silk, Tibetan amulets and religious objects, also adorn the gallery. Appealing images of Manjushri (the deity of wisdom), yantra of the 19th century (showing chakras of the body), Dipankara Buddha are other important parts of the Buddhist collection.

Historical Museum

The monumental building housing the Historical Museum was built by Bhimsen Thapa, prime minister of Nepal in the 18th century. Riches of Nepal’s biodiversity are exhibited in these chambers — mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies and insects. Pelt, horn or endo-skeletons of tiger, leopard, red panda, flying squirrel, rhinoceros, whale, colourful plumage of birds may be cited.

The Military section is a collection of weapons and artifacts from ancient, medieval and modern Nepal. The leather-canons (seized during the first Nepal-Tibet war in 1792 A.D), cane helmets (from the time of early rulers), antique, electric and Thomson submachine guns, Birgun (a gun supposedly invented by Gahendra Shamsher JB Rana) have remained valuable possessions. The gallery has a sword presented by Napoleon III and life-size paintings of tiger hunting as royal sport, on display. Historical and modern paintings of Prime Ministers and kings of the Malla and Shah dynasties are exhibited along with show cases presenting Nepalese historical weapons.

The Numismatic section preserves rare copper, silver and gold coins from the Licchavi era (fifth to seventh century) until modern times. Some tokens made of clay or leather, and banknotes are also on display.

See also

* List of museums in Nepal

References

* Dwivedi, Pashupati Kumar: Museum in Nepal, Published by Smt Sushila Dwivedi, Printed at Commoner Alliance Press, Kathmandu, 1976.

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Non-profit organisations based in Nepal
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