Taxila museum

Construction of Taxila museum started in 1918, its foundation stone laid by Lord Chemsford, vicery of India in 1918. Construction was concluded in 1928 and the museum was opened for public by Sir Habibullah then the ministry for Education. Sir John Marshall who was going to be retired from the post of Director General of Archaeological survey of India in 1928, could not complete its original plan. The government of Pakistan constructed the northern gallery in 1998. There are 4000 objects displayed, including stone, stucco, terracotta, silver, gold, iron and semiprecious stones. Mainly the display consists of objects from the period 600 B.C to 500 AD. Buddhist, hindu and Jain cults are well represented through these objects discovered from three ancient cities and more than two dozen buddhist stupas and monasteries and Greek temples. Taxila Museum is located 35 km from Islamabad on the Grand Trunk Road to Peshawar. It is famous for remains of Gandhara art. Most of the sites at Taxila, dating back 600 BCE to 500 CE, are located around the Taxila Museum.

All the sites at Taxila cannot be visited in a day. However, the museum, which is the first stop for any tourist, is an ideal place to visit and get an idea about the archaeological significance of the place. The museum houses one of the best collections of Gandhara art in Pakistan; a display of artefacts detailing the daily life of the inhabitants of ancient Taxila, and a useful model of the whole valley showing all the archaeological sites.

Taxila Museum is one of the best and most well-maintained museums of Pakistan. Timings of the museum are 8:30 am to 5:30 pm in summer, and 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in winter. There is a resthouse near the museum, run by the Archaeological Department, a Tourist Information Centre and a PTDC motel as well.

The museum registered over 154,000 admissions in 2005.