Lucknow Zoo - Attractions - State Museum, Lucknow

State Museum, Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh State Museum (Timing: 10.30 am to 4.30 pm; Closed on Mondays and certain public holidays) in Lucknow, was earlier situated in the Chattar Manzil and the Lal Baradari. It was shifted during the year 1963 to the new building in Lucknow Zoo (Banarasi Bag or Prince Of Wales Zoological Garden). The initial collection centered around the arts of Avadh and objects related to the customs, habits, mythology and contemporary objects of Awadh, but later on it was expanded to more interesting excavated antiquities from nearby places of Lucknow particularly where Lord Buddha grew up.

Today, the Museum has become a centre of Lucknow's (Awadh's) sculpture, bronzes, paintings, natural history & anthropological specimens, coins, textiles and decorative arts. The (1000 BC) Egyptian Mummy and wooden sarcophagusure in the Prince of Wales Zoological Garden (Lucknow Zoo) are a centre of attraction. From the vast number of displayed objects, some hundred are rare and of great value. These include an inscribed wine jar bearing the name of Aurangzeb Alamgir (17th century), a jade chamakali with the name Jahangir and the date 1036 AD, a 16th century painting of a scene from the Kalpasutra depicting an elephof India. Gradually, it expanded to include excavated antiquities from Piparahawa, Kapilavastu, where the Buddha grew up. Today, this has evolved into a multipurpose museum with sculpture, bronuated in the historic Dhoti Chhattar Manzil and the Lai Baradari. Among other attractions is a modern structant rider and a Jain mum, a 16th century copy of the Harivansha in Persian with nine illustrations, rare silver and gold coins, a prehistoric anthropomorphic figure and a fossilised plant.