Written by: Dr. Saba Noor
Posted on: August 10, 2020 | 
| 中文
The Museum Exterior
The city of Karachi is known to have some of the most interesting and well-kept museums in Pakistan, which annually bring throngs of visitors. But perhaps the most famous of them is the National Museum of Pakistan (NMP) located on Dr. Zia-ud-din Ahmed Road, close to Karachi’s Art Council. What distinguishes it from other museums in the country, is that it was established after Partition as a distinctly Pakistani museum, and carries within it some of the oldest artefacts ever excavated in the country.
The NMP served as a replacement for the outdated “Victoria Museum” in Karachi and vowed to preserve, collect and study the history and culture of the newly created Pakistani state. It was inaugurated on 17th April 1950 in Frere Hall, by then Governor-General Khawaja Nazimuddin. While some of the items of the old Victoria Museum were given to the NMP, most of the artefacts collected by the British were taken to the United Kingdom. The NMP stayed at the Hall for 18 years, until the government decided that the museum must be given a separate identity.
It shifted to its new home in Burns Garden, in a historic and architecturally rich neighborhood, alongside buildings like the beautiful NED University’s Old Campus, and Sindh Muslim Law College. The new building was designed by an Italian architect in the late 1960s and was inaugurated in February 1970 by the then-president of Pakistan, General Mohammad Yahya Khan.
Figures from Mohenjo-Daro
Initially, the museum only had four galleries. Over time, this has expanded to eleven galleries, covering six stories, an auditorium with a capacity for 250 people, a committee room, and a laboratory. Alongside this, over 70,000 publications are kept within the museum library for research purposes.
A Mughal Tapestry in Persian
The galleries are divided into the different periods of Pakistan’s history, from ancient times to present-day ethnographical studies spread out both inside and outside the building. Many of them have either been found by accident, like Buddhist manuscripts found in Gilgit Baltistan and Egyptian statues from Taxila, or bought from antique shops around the country. One would be pleasantly surprised to find accounts of the lives of the people of the Indus Valley Civilization and Gandhara Civilization, side by side to archival sources of the Pakistan Movement. These museum galleries are looked after by three curators, along with the help of seven assistants.
Two of the most popular exhibits at the museum include the Quran Gallery and the ancient coin collection. The museum houses a considerably large collection of Islamic relics, and has more than 300 copies of the Quran, out of which 52 are rare hand-written manuscripts, written in incredible and intricate calligraphy, some of which are in early Kufic and Bahr Arabic scripts. As for the coins, there are over 58,000 in the collection, the rarest of which dates back to 550 AD.
A Rare Manuscript of the Quran
Alongside the artefacts, the well-preserved ancient statues are also worth a long and lengthy glance. Some of the oldest relics include pots from Mehergarh and Nowshera, which are over 10,000 years old, and objects excavated from caves in Islamabad that are about a million years old. The Gandhara Gallery, in particular, boasts impressive and detailed statues Mauryan emperors, and diagrams of Buddha’s life, from his birth to his death.
A Gandhara Statue of Buddha
Another equally fascinating exhibit is the Indus Valley Civilization gallery, with rare collections of sculptures and relics, including the famous King-Priest Sculpture that became synonymous with the civilization. Many of the gold jewelry, pottery designs and depictions of fabrics are indicative of design patterns still used in Pakistan today, like traditional ajrak prints.
The Priest-King of Mohenjo-Daro
A separate gallery showcases the history of the Pakistan Movement and features personal belongings of the various people who were a part of the movement. These include Quaid-e-Azam’s pens, cuffs and sword; Allama-Iqbal’s personal chair; and Liaquat Ali Khan’s walking stick. There are also rare pictures of the politicians in their youth, and news archives from the Independence struggle. Besides this, there are over 50,000 rare pictures of Pakistan, taken while the country was still being established in 1950 and 1960.
From 1950 to 2011, the Federal Government was responsible for the management of the museum. However, after the 18th Amendment, its portfolio was handed over to the Sindh Government, alongside the administration of the Wazir Mansion Museum and Quaid-i-Azam house. New facilities are currently being introduced at the museum, these include a scholar’s house for research and discussion, an arts and crafts centre, and four new galleries.
A Gandhara Statue in the Garden
The NMP boasts an impressive collection of artefacts, statues, paintings and other special objects across many historical eras in Pakistan. It does not simply focus on the conventional history of the country, but also periods which may not get too much mainstream attention from the public. It is a treasure trove of rich materials, and one hopes that the Sindh Government will continue to update and improve the museum, in order to bring in new visitors and show them the vastness and richness of the history of this land.
The museum is open for six days of the week (closed on Wednesdays), from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm in summer and 9:00 am to 6:00 pm in winter.
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