After the Gurudwara visit, we still had time to go around. We chose to visit Patna Museum, which was in the near vicinity. We hired a rickshaw and reached the place in about 20 minutes. Wow! The building looked superb. I began to take pictures of the fabulous exterior views. It has sprawling lush green lawns in the surroundings. It is an ancient building which was established in 1917. The building is colored in off-white and brick color. It looked stunning and as we moved into the campus, we saw a board that had timings and entry fee mentioned.
A beautifully carved arc near the entrance is masterpiece of art. Intricate carvings of the ancient depict the skills of artisanship. I took several pictures of the arc from different angles. Museum would be open for public up to 4:30pm every day, so we had comfortable 2:30 hours to go around. I went and caught up to the queue at the ticket counter. There was a reasonable crowd there. I paid the entry fee, which is Rs.15 per person and for taking photos; I had to pay an additional amount. We entered to large halls with huge collection of antique collectibles.
One of the major attractions in the museum is a tall statue of Didarganj Yakshi, which depicts the marvelous carvings of the Mauryan age. Statue of Avalokiteshwar is another talent of the ancient times. A well carved statue in stone took us back to forms of art that existed centuries ago. We moved on to a section that had various stone statues and carvings excavated by Nalanda University. I kept clicking pictures of the various art forms that were prevalent during the ancient period.
Besides statues, there were sections that displayed a huge collection of coins. Made in different metals the coins referred to different ages in history. We were fortunate to see some of the classic paintings of the ancient era. We could assume many things about the early life through the pictures. Vast courtyard within the museum also had several statues on display. Satabdi smarak is a unique piece of architecture within the campus.
We all enjoyed the museum visit and as we moved out there is a small building which has a Cafeteria and Souvenir shop. We spent about ten minutes there and it time for closure of the Museum. Finally, we clicked a few pictures with the Museum in the background. We journeyed back to the hotel after a fabulous day.