Archaeological Site Museum, Nalanda

The Archaeological Museum at Nalanda, established in 1917, is one of the most prestigious site museums maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India. It was set up to house and display the antiquities recovered from the excavation of Nalanda Mahavihara, the ancient monastic university that flourished from around the 5th to the 12th century CE and today lies adjacent to the museum as an excavated archaeological site.

The museum is arranged across four galleries displaying roughly 350 selected artefacts, including stone and bronze sculptures, seals, coins, and other antiquities recovered during decades of excavation, while a much larger reserve collection of over 13,000 objects, spanning the 5th to 12th centuries CE, is held in storage.

As a companion to the excavated ruins next door, the museum provides essential context for understanding Nalanda's role as one of the world's earliest residential universities and a major centre of Buddhist learning.