The land of five waters gave the world its first cities, its saints and its songs. Broken by every empire that crossed it, it is still ours to remember, and to make whole again.

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PUNJAB WIKIਪੰਜਾਬپنجابMuseum
ਅਜਾਇਬ ਘਰعجائب گھر · 201 objects and buildings

Museum

Five thousand years of the Punjab in things people made: seals and sculpture, coins, scriptures written by hand, paintings, swords and thrones, embroidery, and the buildings that still stand. Many are still where they belong, in gurdwaras, temples and shrines; many more ended up in Lahore, Chandigarh, London and Leeds.

Galleries

The first cities9 objects

Seals, the Priest-King, the Dancing Girl, beads, weights and toys from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro

Sculpture7 objects

For five centuries the sculptors of Gandhara carved the Buddha and his stories in the grey schist of the north-west, mixing Indian, Greek and Persian forms.

Coins & seals19 objects

From the silver of the Indo-Greek kings to the mints of Lahore and Amritsar, where Sikh rulers struck money in the name of the Gurus rather than their own.

Arms & armour16 objects

The shastars kept as relics at the gurdwaras, the great Zamzama gun of Lahore, and the steel of the Lahore army that now fills museum cases in Britain.

Manuscripts & inscriptions12 objects

Ashoka's edicts cut in the rock of Gandhara, and, before print, every book written by hand: the earliest pothis of the Sikh scripture are among the most precious manuscripts of the Punjab.

Painting13 objects

Pahari painters from the hills, Lahore court artists and European visitors painted the Punjab and its people; illustrated janamsakhis told Guru Nanak's life in pictures.

Painters and schools16 entries

Pahari and Lahore court painting, naqqashi, the janamsakhi illustrators, Sher-Gil, Sobha Singh

Architecture61 objects

Mosques, temples, gurdwaras, tombs, forts and havelis: Mughal, Rajput and Punjabi forms in brick, marble and glazed tile.

Treasures of the Lahore court17 objects

When Punjab was annexed in 1849 the toshakhana, the treasury of the Sikh kings, was auctioned or sent to Queen Victoria.

Textiles & crafts17 objects

Phulkari and Chamba embroidery, Kashmir shawls, Lahore carpets, Multan's blue pottery, Chiniot's carving and the painted trucks of the Grand Trunk Road.

Modern art & architecture14 objects

From Amrita Sher-Gil and Chughtai to Le Corbusier's Chandigarh, Nek Chand's Rock Garden and the Minar-e-Pakistan.

The Koh-i-Noor
The Koh-i-NoorTaken by Ranjit Singh 1813; surrendered 1849

The 'mountain of light', taken from the deposed Afghan king Shah Shuja in 1813. Ranjit Singh wore it on his arm. Under the Treaty of Lahore of 1849 it was surrendered to Queen Victoria, cut down, and set in the British crown jewels.

The frescoes of the Golden Temple
The frescoes of the Golden Temple19th century

The inner walls of the Harmandir Sahib are covered in painted flowers, vines and animals, with gilded gesso and mirror work, the work of Sikh artist families such as Bhai Kehar Singh and Bhai Gian Singh Naqqash.

Harmandir Sahib
Harmandir Sahib1588 – 1604; gilded from 1802

The Sikhs' holiest shrine, set in the middle of the pool of nectar and reached by a causeway, with four doors open to every direction and every caste. Destroyed by Abdali and rebuilt, then gilded and inlaid with marble under Ranjit Singh.

Portraits of Maharaja Ranjit Singh
Portraits of Maharaja Ranjit Singhc. 1820 – 1840

The Maharaja was painted on horseback, at the Golden Temple, and in miniatures sold to travellers; Emily Eden sketched him at his meeting with the Governor-General in 1838.

The Damdami Bir
The Damdami Bir1706

The final edition of the scripture, with Guru Tegh Bahadur's hymns added, completed at Talwandi Sabo with Bhai Mani Singh as scribe. The original is believed lost in the 18th century; every later copy descends from it.

The Bhai Banno Bir
The Bhai Banno Bir1604 – 1605

A copy of the Adi Granth made by Bhai Banno, a Sikh of Mangat, who was sent to Lahore to have the Guru's scripture bound and copied it on the way.

Mahmud of Ghazni's Lahore dirhams
Mahmud of Ghazni's Lahore dirhams1027 – 1028

Silver coins struck at Lahore, renamed Mahmudpur, with the Muslim profession of faith translated into Sanskrit.

Nanakshahi rupee
Nanakshahi rupee1765 – 1849

When the misls took Lahore in 1765 they struck silver rupees bearing the Khalsa couplet Deg Tegh Fateh, and Ranjit Singh's kingdom kept issuing them for eighty years.

From the world's museums

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Explore the collectionA map, a timeline and a web of the people, places and battles the objects show

Where the originals are

After 1849 the treasury of the Lahore court was auctioned or shipped to Britain, and archaeologists sent finds to London. These are the institutions that hold the most objects on this site.

Peshawar Museum Peshawar

Harappa Museum Harappa

Government Museum, Chandigarh Chandigarh

Museums to visit

In the Punjab, and online

No museum yet covers the whole Punjab, across the border and every faith, the way this site tries to; the Lahore Museum comes closest. Know of an object that should be here? Tell us.

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