The Peshawar Museum ( (colloquial); پشاور عجائب گھر (official)) is a museum located in Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The museum houses a collection of Buddhist artwork from the ancient Gandhara region.
Background
The Peshawar Museum was founded in 1907 as "Victoria Hall," in memory of
Queen Victoria. The two-story building was built in a syncretic architectural style consisting of British, Hindu, Buddhist and
Mughal Empire Islamic styles.
Initially, the museum had only one exhibition hall, but two more were added in 1969–70. In 2004–05, the museum was further expanded with the construction of a new block with two galleries, two halls for the museum's collection in storage, offices for the provincial directorate of archaeology, a conservation laboratory and a cafeteria. The historic exhibition hall was also renovated at that time.
Collection
The current collection consists of nearly 14,000 items based on
Gandhara, Greco-Buddhist,
Kushan Empire,
Parthian Empire, and Indo-Scythian culture. The collection includes art, sculptures, coins, manuscripts, statues, ancient books, early versions of the Quran, weapons, dresses, jewelry, Kalash effigies, inscriptions, paintings of the Mughal and later periods, household materials and pottery, as well as local and Persian handicrafts.
Gandhara and Greco-Buddhist Art
Peshawar Museum has extensive collections of Gandhara art of the Buddhist period, including Buddhist stone sculptures,
terracotta figurines, and other Buddhist objects. The display of Gandhara art in the main hall includes
Gautama Buddha's life stories, miracles, worship of symbols, relic caskets, and individual standing Buddha sculptures. The ethnological objects of that period are also exhibited in the museum.
Numismatics
The Peshawar Museum has 8,625 coins, 4,510 of which are pre-Islamic. The main interest of the museum's numismatic collection is that the coins were recovered from archaeological sites, including: Shah-Ji-Ki-Dheri, Shari Bahlol, Takht-i-Bahi and Jamal Garhi. The collections of
Bactrian Greek, Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushan coins have been published.
[Frontier Archaeology Issues 1 and 2]
Mughal and Persian Islamic Art
This gallery exhibits wooden facades of mosques, ancient Arabic and Persian inscriptions, fine Multani tiles and ceramics, and the dresses and weapons of Syed Ahmad Barelvi and other historical leaders. The collection also includes Mughal Islamic metal artifacts in bronze and silver, along with calligraphic specimens and scrolls dating back as far as 1224.
Middle Age and British Rule to Present
This gallery showcases items reflecting on the culture and life of the tribes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including
Kalasha Desh located in the far north of the province, home to a tribe of
Animism called the
Kalash people. The museum features cultural artifacts from the Kailash Valley, along with a collection of weaponry such as swords, daggers, spears, long bows, recurve bows, arrows, shields, muzzle-loading guns, revolvers, pistols and gunpowder boxes.
Buddha, excavated 1909-1910]]
See also
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Sethi Mohallah
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Governor's House (Peshawar)
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City Museum, Gorkhatri
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List of museums in Pakistan
Notes
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Frontier Archaeology Vol.II, 2004, Catalogue of Coins in the Peshawar Museum No.1 Kushan Period (ed. Ali, I), Directorate of Archaeology & Museums
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Frontier Archaeology Vol.IV, 2006, Catalogue of Coins No.2 Indo-Greek and Scytho-Parthian Period (ed. Ali, I), Directorate of Archaeology & Museums
External links
