Bangladesh National Museum, formally inaugurated on 17 November 1983, is
one of the largest museums in South Asia. Dhaka Museum, formally
inaugurated on 7 August 1913, was its forerunner. Bangladesh National
Museum is devoted to archaeology, classical, decorative and contemporary
art, history, natural history, ethnography and world civilization.
Bangladesh National Museum has splendid collections which range in date
from prehistory to the present time. Both in number and uniqueness, the
Museum is extremely rich in stone, metal and wooden sculptures, in gold,
silver and copper coins, in stone inscriptions and copperplates and in
terracottas and other artifacts of archaeological interest. The Museum
has one of the largest collections of arms and armour in the Indian
subcontinent. Quite fascinating are its collections of decorative art,
especially of woodwork, metalwork and embroidered quilts. It has items
of natural history and ethnographic interest. The Museum is noted for
its collection of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin and works of other
contemporary artists. The Museum also illustrates the freedom struggle
culminating in the liberation of Bangladesh.
