In July 1911, a conference in Simla took up this issue and highlighted the urgency for establishing a scientifically managed Ethnographic Museum covering the entire spectrum of artistic heritage relating to the Indian civilization.  In the absence of such a Museum, a student intending to study the development of Indian Art would have been hard put to visit Museums at Paris, Berlin, Munich and many other cities of the world and piece together whatever little information the student could gather from those museums when it should ideally be studied on Indian soil.

The earliest proposal to establish a National Museum took shape in April 1912 when the Government of India approached the Secretary of State for constituting an Oriental Research Institute of India.  The proposal envisaged: (i) teaching Archaeology at the said institute under the supervision of the Director General of Archaeology; and, (ii) that an Imperial Museum of Archaeology be set up in the vicinity of the institute. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State shot down this proposal through a dispatch in July 1914.

In the meantime, the Royal Anthropological Institute in London made a representation to the Secretary of State in 1913 for a scheme to open an Oriental Research Institute with provision for Anthropological research.  On February 21, 1913 the Government of India issued a statement referring to the Museum problem discussed at the Simla conference in July 1911.

Subsequently, the Government of India asked the Director General of Archaeology Sir John Marshall, to prepare a pilot paper for establishing an Ethnological Institution in Delhi. The note prepared by Sir John Marshall envisaged a Museum devoted to (i) Existing culture based on a geophysical arrangement; (ii) Ancient culture tracing cultural development; and (iii) Anatomical and physical collections.

The Museum plan was approved by the Finance Department in principle and the plan was referred to the Imperial Delhi Committee for implementation.  The consulting architect of the Government of India in consultation with the Director General of Archaeology drew up the roadmap for the Institute.  The Imperial Delhi Committee earmarked the site at the crossing of the Kingsway (now Rajpath) and Queensway (now Janpath) for the Oriental Institute and the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology which is where the National Museum is situated now.  The proposal had to be shelved following the outbreak of World War-I.

The Museum plan was once again revived after the end of World War-I in 1919.  In spite of several representations that were made from time to time, the Museum plan never gathered momentum until September 10, 1945 when and Inter-Departmental meeting recognized a pressing need for a Central National Museum of Art,  Archaeology and Anthropology for India to be established in Delhi.

The National Museum started taking a concrete shape in 1946 when an eleven-member committee was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Maurice Gwayer to prepare the blueprint for the National Museum at New Delhi.

The committee met in Shimla on May 13 and 14, 1946 and recommended that the Museum should be set up with five self-sufficient departments with dedicated staff viz., Art; Pre-historic Archaeology; Historic Archaeology; Numismatics and Epigraphy; and, Anthropology.

In addition to the above, the committee also recommended a Circulating Department to be entrusted with the responsibility of putting together and sending out on loan classified collections to towns and educational institutions all over India on the lines of the Circulating Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

In collaboration with the Government of India and the British Government, the Royal Academy, London sponsored an exhibition of Indian Art at the galleries of Burlington House, London during the winter months of 1947-48.  The exhibits drawn from various museums of undivided India and private collections represented the most extensive collection of Indian Art until then. 

The exhibition won accolades and glowing tributes from European connoisseurs. This prompted the Indian authorities to organize an exhibition of art objects displayed at Burlington House in the state rooms of Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi from November 1948 to April 1949 before returning them to their owners. Lord Mountbatten, who was the occupant of Rashtrapati Bhawan as the first Governor General of India, was magnanimous enough to place the state rooms at the disposal of the then Director General Archaeology, Dr. N.P. Chakravarti for this exhibition.

The success of this exhibition set the tone for the formal inauguration of the National Museum in the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 15, 1949 by the then Governor-General of India, C Rajagopalachari, with a collection of artifacts and art objects gifted or loaned by state museums and generous donations by private collectors.

The foundation stone for the National Museum building was laid by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on May 12, 1955.  The new building was inaugurated on December 18, 1960 and the collection of art objects was moved from Rashtrapati Bhawan to the National Museum in Janpath. 

While collection of art objects of national importance and archival interest remains the main purpose of the National Museum, a museum of national standing needs to focus on many more functions.  In fact, segregation and exhibition of objects from the museum collection; study, description and cataloguing of objects; safe storage of reserve collection; and, conservation and preservation of the museum collection are equally important to justify its existence.

The National Museum building was to be completed in three phases.  The first phase of construction was completed in 1960. With concerted efforts of the Dr. Laxmi Prasad Sihare, Director, National Museum, the second phase of the building was completed in 1989.  He was also instrumental in increasing the Museum collection and ensuring scientific identification of objects.  Dr. R.D. Choudhury, Director General, National Museum made significant contributions by the pushing for more publications, seminars, national and international exhibitions and taking the initiative for the third and final phase of construction of the Museum building.

Originally, the National Museum was managed by the Director General of Archaeology.  In 1957, the Ministry of Education declared the National Museum as a separate institution under its direct control in 1960.

Dr. Grace L. McCan Morley became the first director the National Museum in New Delhi (1960-66). Here she planned the layout for various galleries and helped set up the museum at the new building in Janpath. She founded the ‘International Council of Museum’s Regional Agency in Asia’ in 1967 and was head of the council till 1978. She was awarded ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 1982 for her outstanding contribution to museology. She was also the first editor of the UNESCO’s quarterly review ‘Museum’ with which she was associated for 37 years. 

The National Museum has grown from strength to strength and it has consolidated its position both in terms for stature and utility through acquisitions by its purchase committee and presents from the Director General, Archaeology including Central Asian Antiquities which were transferred to the National Museum collection.

Today, the National Museum can be proud of its vast collection of over 206,000 objects of art and antiquity gathered over a period of 60 years. 

The National Museum collection spans 5,000 years of Indian civilization and cultural heritage.  Most of these objects of Indian and foreign origins are on display throughout the year in galleries spread over the ground floor, the first floor and the second floor of the National Museum. 

The National Museum collection is classified and displayed in two ways.  The first few galleries on the ground floor of the National Museum trace the evolution of Indian art.  It has separate galleries for objects recovered from pre-historical and proto-historical sites and the Indus Valley civilization.

Art objects relating to Maurya, Sunga and Satvahana periods are displayed in another gallery.  Artefacts belonging to Kushan period retrieved from Gandhara, Mathura and Ikshavaku, can be seen in a third gallery. And, there are separate galleries for Gupta art, Gupta terracotta, early medieval art bronzes and late medieval art.

In the galleries that follow, art objects and antiques are classified according to theme.  There are galleries for Buddhist art, tantra art, transparencies of Indian scripts and coins, decorative arts, manuscripts, Indian miniatures, Central Asian antiquities, tribal art, Tanjavur paintings, maritime heritage, Ajanta paintings, textiles, pre-Columbian and Western art, coins and copper plates, arms and armour, wood carvings, musical instruments and anthropology.

The National Museum maintains a well stocked library, a conservation laboratory and an auditorium where cultural events are performed.  In addition it has a museum shop which forms an outlet for National Museum’s publications and replicas of art objects.

Today, the National Museum in New Delhi is the largest museum in the country and in the South Asian Region providing leadership to the museum movement in this part of the world.  And, the National Museum Institute has grown into a premier institution of the country imparting education and training in Museology and  Indian Art.