The Asutosh Museum of Kolkata is meant for the preservation, representation and study of the specimens of Indian art and antiquity. It began with only 5 objects, now it contains more than 25,000 items including sculptures, paintings, folk-arts, textiles, terracotta, etc.
The Asutosh Museum in Kolkata had to shift to new locations more than once. At first, the collections were kept in the backward portion of the old Senate Hall. From here the portable specimens had to be shifted to Murshidabad Imambada whereas heavy stone sculptures were dug underground in1942, to save the threat of bombing during the world war II. The collections returned after 5 years and again shifted in 1960. The Asutosh Museum came back in 1967 to the Centenary Building of the University of Calcutta. There the ground and first floors house the galleries.
Kolkata Asutosh Museum has acquired the reputation of being a premier museum of national importance. The museum runs a certificate course in Art Appreciation. The publications of Asutosh Museum of Kolkata include books on preservation, details on excavation conducted by the museum and handbooks on Bengal sculpture, terracotta and coins preserved in its collection. Various sets of colored and monochrome postcards are on sale. In 1959, the University of Calcutta initiated a Post - Graduate Diploma Course in Museology and the Asutosh Museum is the working platform for this course.
Last Updated on : 23 October 2012
