The Lahore Museum (Punjabi: لہور عجائب گھار, romanized: Là(h)or Ajāib Ghār; Urdu: عجائب گھر لاہور, romanized: Ajā'ib Ghar Lāhōr; lit.'Lahore Wonder House') is a museum located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1865 at a smaller location and opened in 1894[1] at its current location on The Mall in Lahore during the British colonial period, Lahore Museum is Pakistan's largest museum, as well as one of its most visited ones.[2][3][4]
The Lahore Museum, along with the Zamzama Gun located directly in front of the building, is the setting of the opening scene in the novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling,[6][7] whose father, John Lockwood Kipling, was one of the museum's earliest curators.[8]
History
The Tollinton Market building was the first in which the museum's collection was displayed.The current museum building was designed in the syncretic Indo-Saracenic Revival architectural style by renowned architect Sir Ganga Ram.The Lahore Museum cornerstone for existing building, laid February 3rd 1890 by Prince Albert Victor, is embedded in the pillar at the Museum entrance
Lahore Museum was originally established in 1865–66 on the site of the current Tollinton Market – a hall built for the 1864 Punjab Exhibition.[9] The present building was constructed as a memorial of Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria held in 1887, and financed through a special public fund raised on the occasion. The foundation stone of the new museum was laid on 3 February 1890 by Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, Queen Victoria's grandson. On its completion in 1894, the entire museum collection was transferred to present building with its new name as Jubilee Museum.
The museum's collection was shifted in 1894 to its present location on The Mall, in Lahore's British-era core.[1] The present building was designed by Bhai Ram Singh and John Lockwood Kipling.[10]
In 1948, as part of the partition of Punjab, the artefacts of the museum were divided between the newly formed countries of Pakistan and India, with the museum retaining about 60% of its collection. The rest was given to India and eventually housed at the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh, built specifically for this purpose.[11]
The museum's golden years are considered to be from 1970 to 1990, when scholar, archaeologist, and museologist Dr Saif-ur-Rehman Dar served as its director. He wrote several books about the museum, and his tenure was complemented by that of B.A. Qureshi, who was the chairman of the museum's board of governors back then.
After that, the condition of the museum went deteriorated due to the lack of support for its restoration.
Over 250,000 visitors were registered at the Lahore Museum in 2005. This dropped to 236,536 in 2016, 214,697 in 2017, but rose to 227,994 in 2018. It was the most popular museum of Pakistan among foreigners in 2016 (2,956 visits) and 2017 (2,941 visits). It dropped to second place (with 3,659 foreign visitors) in 2018, having been replaced by Taxila Museum.[12]
The museum displays archaeological materials from Bronze Age (Indus Valley Civilisation) to the medieval era Hindu Shahi & Mughal period.[5] It has one of the largest collections of archaeology, history, arts, fine arts, applied arts, ethnology, and craft objects in Pakistan. It also has an extensive collection of Hellenistic and Mughal coins.[1] There is also a photo gallery dedicated to the emergence of Pakistan as an independent state, the Pakistan Movement Gallery.[5]
Collections
The museum has a number of Greco-Buddhistsculptures, Mughal and Pahari paintings on display.[1] Over 58,000 artifacts are reported to be part of its collection, with only 14,000 being on display.[13] The collection contains important relics from the Indus Valley civilization, Gandhara, and Graeco-Bactrian periods as well. The Fasting Buddha, dating from the Gandhara period, is one of the museums most prized and celebrated objects.
The coin collection consists of 38,000 rare coins.[13]
The Evolution of Mankind
The ceiling of the entrance hall features TheEvolution of Mankind, a large mural consisting of 48 panels (each measuring 6 by 8 feet). It was painted by Pakistani artist Sadequain who originally completed it in 1973.[5][14][15] Due to the weather conditions and termite attacks, the mural suffered significant damage over the years, A grant was approved by the Governor of Punjab in 2008 to start the restoration work. It was taken down in 2010, while restoration work began in 2012.[16] By 2018, 16 of the panels had been restored by Uzma Usmani and Mumtaz Hussain.[17]
The museum also contains fine specimens of Mughal and Sikh carved woodwork and has a large collection of paintings dating back to the British period. The collection also includes musical instruments, ancient jewelry, textiles, pottery, and armory, as well as some Tibetan and Nepalese work on display.[1][5]
The book Masterpieces of Lahore Museum, written by Anjum Rehmani, was published by the museum in 1999 with financial assistance from UNESCO.[27] A new edition was published in 2006.[28]
In popular culture
Rudyard Kipling's novel, Kim (published in 1901), was set in the vicinity of the old/original Lahore Museum and the Mall areas.
Further reading
Shaila Bhatti (2012), Translating museums: a counterhistory of South Asian museology, Walnut Creek, Calif: Left Coast Press, ISBN9781611321449
^Which later became the Tollinton Market after the completion of the new/present museum building, see "Murray's Handbook of the Punjab", pub. 1883. Mention also made in Peter Hopkirk, "Quest for Kim", London, 1996, pp.46–47 ISBN0-7195-5560-4
^Bryant, Julius; Weber, Susan (2017). John Lockwood Kipling: arts & crafts in the Punjab and London [exhibition, Victoria and Albert museum, London, 14 January - 2 April 2017, Bard graduate center gallery, New York, 15 September 2017 - 7 January 2018]. New York New Haven: Published by Bard graduate center gallery Yale University press. ISBN978-0-300-22159-6.
