Archaeological Museum, Nalanda
Ancient site · Nalanda, Bihar
Pilgrims and students come to see the Buddha and Bodhisattva images recovered from the mahavihara...
An ASI site museum established in 1917, facing the excavated site, holding 13,463 antiquities of which 349 are on display in four galleries and a main hall. The material is mostly 5th-12th century CE from Nalanda and Rajgir: basalt sculpture, bronzes, stucco, terracotta, inscriptions, seals and copper plates. Highlights include a twelve-armed Avalokiteshvara, a Trailokya Vijay, a colossal Buddha, 93 bronzes of Buddhist and Hindu figures, and two large monastic storage jars kept separately. A scale model of the excavated site stands in the centre.
Plan your visit
- Best season
- September to April" (Bihar Tourism)
- Area
- Nalanda
- Status
- Coming Soon
Yatras that include Archaeological Museum
- Mauryan and Ashokan Bihar: Where much of what was dug out of this route now sits.
Experiences here
- Walk Nalanda with somebody who can read it: Ten metres of brick is a wall to most people and a lecture hall to a guide
Tirtham can arrange here
Guide, car and stay around Nalanda
Also around Nalanda
- Sattu sharbat in summer: What Bihar drinks against the heat: roasted gram, water, lemon and salt, sold from carts on every corner.
- Magahi paan: The betel leaf of old Magadh, soft enough to melt in the mouth, grown under thatch in Nawada, Gaya, Aurangabad and Nalanda.
- Rajgir Mahotsav: Bihar's festival of classical dance and music, with a food fair, held in Rajgir each year.
- Silao khaja: A many-layered fried sweet made in Silao, on the road between Rajgir and Nalanda, GI-registered in 2018.
- Bawan Buti weaving of Nalanda: Fifty-two motifs woven into one cloth, many of them Buddhist, by a few families of Basawan Bigha; GI-registered in June 2026.
Nearby places
- Nalanda Mahavihara: The world's oldest residential university
- Xuanzang Memorial Hall: Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Indian Buddhists come to venerate the relics of the pilgrim-scholar who...
- Black Buddha: Buddhists come for the ancient image itself; local Hindus have worshipped the same figure as Bhairav...
- Shvetambara Jain temple, Nalanda: Nalanda is where Mahavira spent fourteen rains retreats and where Indrabhuti Gautama, his chief...
- Surya Mandir, Surajpur Bargaon: It is one of Bihar's largest Chhath sites outside the river ghats; devotees come to offer arghya to the...
- Statue of Buddha, Jagdishpur: It is a living local shrine where an ancient Buddha image continues to receive Hindu worship, and a...
- Telhara monastery: It is the third great Magadhan mahavihara after Nalanda and Vikramshila, named in the Chinese pilgrims'...
- Aashapuri Maharani Temple, Ghosrawan: Local and regional devotees come to the goddess; the village is also a stop for the Pala-period...
Questions pilgrims ask
Why is Archaeological Museum important?
An ASI site museum established in 1917, facing the excavated site, holding 13,463 antiquities of which 349 are on display in four galleries and a main hall. The material is mostly 5th-12th century CE from Nalanda and Rajgir: basalt sculpture, bronzes, stucco, terracotta, inscriptions, seals and copper plates. Highlights include a twelve-armed Avalokiteshvara, a Trailokya Vijay, a colossal Buddha, 93 bronzes of Buddhist and Hindu figures, and two large monastic storage jars kept separately. A scale model of the excavated site stands in the centre.
When is the best time to visit Archaeological Museum?
September to April" (Bihar Tourism).
Plan my Yatra. Rather talk to someone? Call or WhatsApp +91 87893 56605, or contact us.