An image of Syama (green) Tara
Name of Object: An image of Syama (green) Tara. Materials of the Object: Black stone. Height/Length: Sat-Wed: 121.92 cm. Width: 63.5 cm. Incriptions/Markings: There is a short inscription in the script of the 12th century A. D. at the base: Kayastha Sri Sanghesa-gu (pta)… (The Scribe Sanghesa-gupta). Recieved From: Babu Asutosa Guha, B. E. and others of the Guha family of Sompada. Short Description: Syama Tara, a Buddhist goddess, sits with the right leg...
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An image of the Dhyani Buddha
Name of Object: An image of the Dhyani Buddha. Materials of the Object: Black stone. Height/Length: 101.6 cm. Width: 53.34 cm. Incriptions/Markings: The image has a short inscription on the pedestal. Recieved From: Government of Bengal. Short Description: The Dhyani Budha is seated in the bhumisparsha mudra on a full-blown lotus in the adamantine pose (vajrasana). A folded urna appears on his left shoulder. The lobes of his ears almost touch the necks. The Dhyani Buddha is flanked on either side by two...
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Bedstead
Accession No 1978.200 Place of origin Lohagada, Jessore Name of Object Bedstead Materials of the Object Teak Short Description The bedstead is profusely carved, standing on four fairy-shaped legs. Each leg’s toes resemble the tiger’s paw. Above each paw is a circular pedestal upon which stands a fairy holding a rose in her left hand. The fairy’s hair is curling, and she is dressed in the European style. The fairy’s wings are notched like...
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Family
Accession No: 00097. Date of Acquisition: 24-07-2001 Name of the object: Family. Materials of the object: White cement. Height/Length: 104 cm. Width: 53 cm. Recieved From Mayamuna Khatun 149/1 Manipurpara, Farmgate, Dhaka Short Description: The sculpture highlights the importance of families involved in cultivation. Depicting a cultivating family in association with the cow, the sculptor has created a fascinating scene of vivacious co-existence.
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Famine Sketch
Accession No: 00245. Date of Acquisition: 1984. Name of the object: Famine Sketch. Materials of the object: Black ink. Height/Length: 56 cm. Width: 45.7 cm. Maker: Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin. Short Description: The painting depicts the human struggle for survival during the famine of 1943. The painter has created a vivid scene of this struggle in which a man and a crow are seen to be equally involved in the relentless effort to procure food from a dustbin.
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Harvesting.
Accession No: 00003. Date of Acquisition: 2009. Name of the object: Harvesting. Materials of the object: Oil in jute mat. Height/Length: 117 cm. Width: 90 cm. Recieved From: Syed Shabbir Ahmed. Short Description: The painting depicts a scene of harvesting, a feature of the agricultural community.
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Ivory elephant
Accession No: 1963.1364 Date of Acquisition: 04-02-1963 Name of Object: Ivory elephant Materials of the Object: Ivory Height/Length: 8 11/16 inches Short Description: An ivory elephant, superbly carved in the round and richly caparisoned, stands on a four-legged pedestal. A haudah with two compartments is fixed on the elephant’s back. In each compartment is seated a rider. The rider in the front compartment is bejeweled. The mahout (the driver of the elephant) is seen seated...
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Part of a terracotta plaque
Name of Object: Part of a terracotta plaque. Materials of the Object: Terracotta. Short Description: Part of a terracotta plaque, showing in relief adorned elephants and a heavily ornamented female attendant who holds a fly-whisk in her right hand.
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Three Duaghters
Accession No: 01611 Date of Acquisition: 1983 Name of the object: Three Duaghters Materials of the object: Oil in canvas Height/Length: 106.68 cm Width: 76.2 cm Short Description The painting depicts a typical scene of rural life in Bangladesh, showing three daughters fetching water from a pond. Instead of describing them as three women, the painter prefers to call them three daughters. From the painter's lively depiction they seem to be unmarried. Bringing water from nearby ponds is a daily activity of rural...
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Umbrella
Accession No: 1963.2497 Date of Acquisition: 01-04-1963 Name of Object: Umbrella Materials of the Object: Velvet, golden thread, and pink pearls Diameter: 61 inches File No. : 21/1960-64 Recieved From: Dr. Benoy Lal Dhar 76 Tantibazar, Dhaka Short Description: This umbrella, manufactured in Dhaka at the end of the 18th century, is a ceremonial one. It has ten triangular divisions, each of which is profusely decorated with a dragon-motif embroidered in golden thread on a purple velvet ground....
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Welcome to Bangladesh National Museum
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.
Our Mission
Bangladesh National Museum establishes a link between the vanishing past and the vibrant present with a view to ensuring the acquisition and advancement of knowledge for intellectual growth, national pride and awakening, social progress, and international harmony, all in the service of the public and in accordance with professional standards.
Our Vision
One of the most crucial and difficult tasks of the museum today is to communicate a country's natural and cultural heritage in a way that illuminates the contemporary situation. Keeping this in view, Bangladesh National Museum seeks to extend the perception of culture in the widest anthropological sense, linking our present-day life to the eternal creative search of man on the one hand and the material world--both natural and man-made--on the other to help the visitors discover a purpose that is common to all.
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Notice Board
15 December 2011
Illumination of clay lamps in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh at the premises of Bangladesh National Museum and flying of a sparkling balloon in the sky by Captain Tajul Islam, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, Special Guest Mrs. Suraiya Begum, Secretary of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and Mr. Mizanur Rahman, Secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs
16 December 2011
Mr. Azizur Rahman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Mr. Prokash Chandra Das, Director General, Bangladesh National Museum, are seen placing a flower-wreath at the National Memorial on behalf of Bangladesh National Museum.
23 December 2011
Children’s Painting Contest sponsored by Bangladesh National Museum on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Independence of Bangladesh. A disabled child is seen painting a picture, using her feet.
Nobel-Laureate Amartya Sen at Bangladesh National Museum
Mr. Prokash Chandra Das is seen presenting some publications of Bangladesh National Museum to Nobel-Laureate Amartya Sen.
Discussion Meeting on the occasion of the Martyred Intellectual Day
(From left) Mr. Prokash Chandra Das, Director General, Bangladesh National Museum, Discussant Farzana Majid, daughter of a martyr, and Chief Discussant Professor Anisuzzaman, Chief Guest Professor A. A. S. M. Arefin, Vice-Chancellor, Dhaka University, and Chairman Mr. Azizur Rahman are seen at the Discussion Meeting on the occasion of the Martyred Intellectual Day.
