Bagan Archaeological Museum, Myanmar

In 1902, Mr.Taw Sein Kho, Superintendent of the former Epigraphic Office, which is now called Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library, built a museum on the north of Ananda Temple, in which stone inscriptions and archaeological objects collected around Bagan were displayed. The museum was opened in 1904. It was a small museum and the displays were not systematic. On a site of 8.16 acres to the south of Gawdawpalin Temple within old Bagan, a modern museum was built and opened on 1st October,1979. It was a complex of buildings - an octagonal structure in which ancient objects were displayed and three sheds where stone inscriptions, stone sculptures and other archaeological finds of large size were exhibited. Early in 1995, the three sheds were demolished but the octagonal structure was left intact. A new magnificent new museum was constructed near the old museum and it was inaugurated on 17th April, 1998. Its ground plan measures 180 feet from east to west and 360 feet from north to south on a plot of land - 10.97 acres. There are 10 exhibition rooms - the special display room and galleries dedicated to the following themes: Bagan Palace city, Bagan period literature, Bagan period social life, Bagan period Architecture, Bagan Arts and crafts, Buddha images of Bagan, Buddhist art of Bagan, Bagan period Frescos (Mural paintings), paintings presenting Pagodas and monuments of the Bagan period. Collection size: 850 objects