The Chhauni Museum

Where else in the world can you see some of the most important religious stone sculptures of the land, a room full of “breathtaking bronzes”, a collection of priceless Paubha scroll paintings, a world class collection of ancient Asian firearms, swords and khukuris, and several leather cannons captured during the 1788 war between Nepal and Tibet? Nepal’s National Museum at the Chhauni has all this, and more.
Nepal’s National Museum is located a short walk south of Swayambhunath temple, and directly across Museum Road from the Nepal Army’s more modern Military Museum. There, at the end of a long white wall, you’ll find the ticket booth and the old museum’s main entrance gate. Chhauni means ‘Parade Ground’, and it was there in 1928 AD that this intriguing museum was first established. At first it was called the ‘Chhauni Silkhana’ and the original displays, mostly armaments, were housed in an historic old palace constructed decades earlier by Bhimsen Thapa . Thapa was Nepal’s second prime minister under the Shah kings, and is considered a great national hero of the country.

The original name, ‘Chhauni Silkhana’, literally meant ‘the stone house of arms and ammunitions’. For the first decade it was closed to the public and shown only to dignitaries, foreign scholars and other guests of the prime minister. The collection of armaments and other ancient items served the Ranas as a show-piece. In 1938, Prime Minister Juddha Shamsher J.B. Rana opened it to the public, and had a second building constructed for an art museum, which he named after himself: the ‘Juddha Jatiya Kalashala’. In 1967 the whole complex was given its current name, ‘Rastriya Sangrahalaya’, the National Museum of Nepal.

Today, the museum comprises three buildings: the ‘Juddha Jatiya Kalashala’ (also called the Hall of Sculpture’), the Buddhist Art Gallery (constructed with Japanese assistance and opened in 1997) and the original Historical Museum Building (Bhimsen’s palace).