National Museum

museum, New Delhi, India

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National Museum, museum in New Delhi devoted to Indian art and archaeology as well as to Buddhist studies. The collections also include examples of anthropology; arms and armour; decorative arts, including jewelry; epigraphy; and pre-Columbian and Western art.

The art of painting is well represented with Indian miniatures of the Mughal, Rajput, Deccani, and Pahari schools. The museum has fine old manuscripts, as well as temple hangings, lavishly brocaded saris, weapons set with precious stones, and painted pottery. Antiquities from Central Asia recovered by Aurel Stein include the only examples of mural paintings from Buddhist shrines outside their native countries.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Alicja Zelazko.