Varendra Research Museum

Varendra Museum (Bengali: বরেন্দ্র জাদুঘর) is a museum, research center and popular visitor attraction located at the heart of Rajshahi town and maintained by Rajshahi University in Bangladesh.

History

Varendra Museum was the first museum to be established in erstwhile East Bengal in 1910. The museum started out as the collection for Varendra Anushandhan Samiti or Varendra Investigation Society and got its current name in 1919. The Rajahs of Rajshahi and Natore, notably Prince Sharat Kumar Ray, donated their personal collections to Varendra Museum. Varendra refers to an ancient janapada roughly corresponding to modern northern Bangladesh.

Excavation at Sompur Bihara was started by the society along with Calcutta University in 1923. In 1964, the museum became a part of Rajshahi University.

Collection

• Gallery One has collections from the Indus Valley Civilization, and some of its 265 items from Sompur. It also contains old Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian scripts.

• Gallery Two has Buddhist and Hindu stone sculptures and modern wood sculptures.

• Gallery Three and Gallery Four display stone sculptures of Hindu gods and goddesses.

• Gallery Five offers mostly Buddhist sculpture.

• Gallery Six shows Arabic. Persian, Sanskrit and old Bangla stone inscriptions and sculptured stones of the Muslim period.

• A recent gallery has been added displaying the indigenous and tribal culture of Rajshahi region.

External links

• Article, from Banglapedia