Bharat
Kala Bhavan Varanasi
Bharat Kala Bhavan lies within the sprawling grounds of Banaras
Hindu University. Its outstanding collection of sculpture, painting
and textiles began with the private collection of the enlightened
Rai Krishnadasa. The sculpture collection includes terracotta
and clay objects. Ancient terracotta varing from ritual icons
to toys to utilitarian objects date to the Indus Valley Civilisation,
Mauryan, Sunga and Gupta periods. Among the stone sculptures are
red sandstone reliefs from the 2nd century B.C, Buddhist stupa
at Bharhut and rare image and statues from well known schools
like Gandhara, which saw the synthesis of Greek and Indian styles
and Mathura, a powerful art centre during the Kushana period.
The large and impressive collection of textiles contain precious
example of Banaras silk and brocades, embroidered shawls from
Kashmir and the rare Chamba rumals, once used to wrap ceremonial
gifts and offering were richly embroidered pieces with designs
and stories from the life of Krishna Address :- Bharat Kala Bhavan
Banaras Hindu University Varanasi.
State Museum Lucknow
A multipurpose museum with sculptures, bronzes, paintings, natural
history and anthropological specimens, coins, textiles and decorative
arts. Rare stone sculptures include the earliest image of Balarama
and a panchmukhi shivalinga (both 2nd century B.C), and a statue
of Saraswati, again reputed to be the earliest depiction (2nd
century A.D).
Address :- State Museum Banarasi Bagh in Lucknow.
Archaeological Museum Sarnath
Sarnath, where the Buddha delivered his first sermon more than
2500 years ago, has a site museum whose prize exhibit is the enormous
lion capitals(2.31m). Now the emblem of Independence India, the
capital once surmounted an Ashokan pillar erected to mark the
spotwhere the Budhha preached There are many other Buddha and
budhisattava figures on view. Among these the most outstanding
Gupta periods with hand rised on Abhaya or protection.
Government
Museum Mathura
The rich treasure of antiquarian values unearthed by Cunnigham,
Growse, Fuhrer and others formed the nucleus of this museum. The
museum was founded by the collector, F.S. Growse in 1874. The
collections were shifted to the present building in 1930. Regional
in character its scope was limited primarily to the archeological
finds from the Mathura region. The vast collection includes stone
sculptures, bas reliefs, architectural fragments, inscriptions
of various faiths and creeds, coins, terracotta, inscribed bricks,
pottery pieces, clay seals, bronze objects and paintings. The
museum has the richest and by far the most important collection
of the Mathura School of Sculptures of 3rd century B.C - 12th
century A.D.
