One among the national museums situated in the beautiful landscape of Company Bagh (Chandrashekhar Azad Park) is Allahabad Museum. This museum has got additional attraction because of its well laid garden, largely extended green lawn in an outstanding situation. This museum was established in the year 1931 by the municipality of Allahabad with handful of collection of animals and birds models. The tremendous work of Pt. Brijmohan Vyas, the Executive Officer of Nagarpalika led to outstanding growth in the number of collections and resulted in a separate large building of this museum. The 1st Indian Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru laid foundation stone for this current building in the year 1947.

By 1950, the complete construction was done and many new galleries were included in the same year at the time of Maghmela. Indian Governments Ministry of Culture took over the museum in the year 1986 and later on formed Allahabad Museum society and handed over to them. This Society is completely self governed body funded by Indian cultural Ministry.

Collection

Gandhi Smrithi Vahan, Chandra Sekhar Azad’s Colt pistol with .32 bore, manuscripts written by famous Hindi authors, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s autobiography, Bengal School Art paintings along with Nicholas Roerich outstanding creations,  Rajasthani Miniatures and ancient sculpture collected from Jamsot, Bhumra, Mathura and Kausambi’s Terracotta are some of the unique collections displayed in the museum.

Galleries

The various galleries present in the museum depict different outstanding exhibits. The highly precious collections at the Sculptural gallery includes amazing collection of sursundaries collected from Shiva temple at Jamsot Allahabad, Gupta Period Ekmukhi Shivlinga collected from Khoh, Gupta period’s architectural remains collected from Bhumara Shiva temple,  Bodhisattva Maittreya depicted in the style of Gandhara, Buddhas inscribed statue that belongs to the 2nd regal year of Indian Kaniskha in Kausambi, and rare precious collection of Indian Bharhut sculptures.

Along with this, the museum also possess huge collection of beautiful terracottas collected from significant archaeological spots at Bhita, Jhusi and Kausambi. These collections are very important for the analysis of terracotta art development and also acts as valuable source for cultural analysis of those periods they came from.

Good collection of various metals, terracottas, crystals, and beads of semi-precious and precious stones are outstanding for their beauty and precision. There is a rare collection of birds and animals beads that is very rare to find elsewhere. There are approximately 600 inscribed ceilings and seals together with inscriptions on copper plate and huge coin collections that belong to Mughal and early historical tenure. Some significant Farmans of Mughal Kings are also present here. There are lavish collections of Persian and Sanskrit illustrated manuscripts. The latest one to join them is the Shahnama.

The special attraction to this museum is the gallery portraying Mahatma Gandhi’s life and his achievements. There is a collection of rare coins and postal tickets that were issued by various countries honoring Mahatma is also displayed here.

The most proud possession in this museum is the 1948 Sangam immersed ashes of Mahatma in Gandhi Smriti Vahan. They also maintain the original form of V-8 Ford truck in its 47 model.

The Nehru Gallery of this museum contains precious collection of original manuscript of Nehru’s autobiography along with various documents and letters that were presented to the museum by Nehru himself.  There is a gallery depicting India’s Independence struggle between the years 1857 and 1947 containing significant struggle facets that were depicted through photographs. There is a separate section for revolutionaries too. The pride possession of this museum is Chandra Sekhar Azad’s pistol that is displayed in hall entrance. The triangular park carries his bust made of bronze. They have also planned for a gallery that depicts Allahabad’s Glory in the form of cultural traditions and literary of Allahabad.

The literary collection includes various literary figures in Urdu, English and Hindi literatures. The cultural tradition area covers architectural remains and significant temples. Apart from this, there is a section for all significant personalities who dedicated themselves in developing Allahabad in any form. They are also setting up 2 additional galleries for Evolution of Culture in Ganga Valley and Buddhist Thangkas.

Rock Art Gallery of this museum contain good collection of prehistorical paintings dated from 14-13000 years B.C. till 2000 – 1500 B.C.

This museum also carries sufficient collection of paintings. It includes Ragmala paintings from different Rajasthani Schools along with other famous paintings of Asit Kumar Haldar, Anagarika Govind, Nicholas Roerich and other painters from Bengal School.

Visitor Information

One can visit this museum between Tuesday and Sunday. They offer various educational programmes, publication provision, photographs at affordable price, A.C library for students and scholars and free guide facilities.

How to Reach

By Road

There are good roads connecting Allahabad to various parts of India through National Highways 24B, 27 and 2. Allahabad is situated about 673 km (Jaipur), 125 km (Chitrakoot), 1790 km (Chennai), 799 km (Calcutta), 680 km (Bhopal), 167 Km (Ayodhya), 1207 km (Ahmedabad) and 433 Km (Agra).

By Train

All major destinations like Mumbai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Delhi, and Kolkata are well connected to Allahabad through trains.

By Air

There is Bamrauli Air Forve Base (IXD) at Allahabad which is linked by Air India Regional to Delhi. Various other major airports close to Allahabad are Lucknow’s Amausi International Airport (200 km) and  Varanasi’s International Airport (142 Km).