VARENDRA MUSEUM

The Rajshahi University is a respected and well known educational institution in the city of Rajshahi, which attracts thousands of students to this historical destination each year. The Varendra Museum, which is managed and located near the university, was established in 1910 as the Varendra Investigation Society, but changed its name in 1919. Rajshahi University took control of the museum in 1964. Over its years of existence, the museum has not only amassed a wonderful collection of cultural and historical items, but has evolved into a brilliant research museum as well.
The Varendra Museum is divided into seven galleries, which focuses on different cultural periods and religious artifacts. In the first gallery, visitors will find ancient scripts on display, breathtaking items from the Indus Valley Civilization and collections from Sompur. In the galleries two to five, there are a variety of sculptures that include Hindu and Buddhist sculptures, wooden sculptures and sculptures depicting different goddesses and gods from the Hindu religion. The Muslim period is represented through sculptured stones in the sixth gallery, where stone inscriptions in Persian, Bangla, Arabic and Sanskrit can also be found. The culture and tribes of the Rajshahi region can be explored in the last and most recently added, gallery in the museum. More than twenty two thousand books form the library collection and the library is also home to approximately six thousand manuscripts. The Varendra Museum, at the Rajshahi University, is a lasting monument and tribute to the Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu religions, though its dedication, research and protection of the collections that represents the past of Bangladesh and the people that have lived here for centuries.