The National Museum in New Delhi is the largest museum in India. It holds variety of articles ranging from pre-historic era to modern works of art. It functions under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
It also houses the National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology established in 1983 and now a Deemed University since 1989, and run Masters and Doctoral level courses in History of Art, Art Conservation and Art restoration.
History
The National museum can be considered as the living chronicle of the Indian History and heritage. This museum was the brainchild of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. He himself laid the foundation stone of this museum in the year 1955 but sadly, passed away before it was opened for the public in the year 1965. Since then, the National museum has worked for the cause of preserving the relics of Indian history.
 The roots of the National Museum begin with an exhibition of Indian art and artifacts at the Royal Academy in London in the winter of 1947-48. At the end of the London exhibition, the exhibition curators had decided to display the same collection intact in India before returning the artifacts to their individual museums. On 15 August 1949, the National Museum was formally inaugurated by the Governor-General of India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. At that time, it was decided that until a permanent home could be found for the collection, it would continue to be housed at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Today, the museum is administered and funded by the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Collections
The museum has in its possession over 200,000 works of art, of both Indian and foreign origin, covering more than 5,000 years of Indian cultural heritage.
Indian Heritage
The National Museum has a very impressive collection of copper and bronze statuettes, terracotta sculptures, jewelries, costumes and other commodities that give an in-depth peek into Indian heritage and way of life. The collection consists of rare coins, costumes, potteries, manuscript and weapons of Mauryan Empire dating back to 3rd century B.C. Besides it has an excellent collection of the exhibits from Chola, Vijayanagar and Bahmani kingdom in south India. Special attention has been given to the tribal lifestyle too, which are the integral part of the Indian culture and heritage. It has a remarkable collection of miniatures, murals, costumes and weaponry system of the various tribes including now extinct Gondwana tribes. The best part of the National Museum at Delhi is the lyrical bronze Dancing Girl.
Indus Valley Civilization
The National Museum at Delhi boasts for having the largest number of artifacts of the Indus Valley Civilization. The National museum has a special gallery dedicated to he Indus Valley Civilization. It contains various things that were excavated from Harappa and Moen-Jodaro. It includes among other things, seals and tablets excavated from Harappa. These things along with the town plan of the city tell us about a civilization that was more developed and urbanized than the Vedic civilization that followed it. The sculpture of The Dancing Girl excavated from the ruins of Moen-Jodaro is an exclusive item worth watching. It dates back to 2,500 BC. The National museum is not restricted to the ancient period only.
Mughal Period
The Mughal period paintings and Arabian manuscripts are some of the prized possessions of this museum. The silk banners, sculpture, manuscript and wall paintings of the medieval period will help you in building an insight of that era.
Invaluable Collections
 It has also in its procession, Sir Aurel Stein's collection in the Central Asian gallery. These items from the excavation site in Tashkent, Oxynia and Herat are worth seeing too. The other exclusive items include the original copy of Git Gobinda, a sixth century Mahabharata and a Bhagawat Gita in golden alphabet. From the medieval era it has an Octagonal Quran, the original copy of Babarnama, Jahangir's diary as well as musical instruments invented by Amir Khushro.
Reference Library
Along with the present resources, the National Museum at Delhi also has a large reference library for the travelers who intend to study the history of India. At the National Museum, the tourists can explore, as well as learn without actually knowing that they are learning in this process.
Location
National Museum of Delhi is the largest museum of the capital city of India. Situated in Janpath, this museum serves as a kind of warehouse of the information of India’s history and culture.
Source: Wikipedia
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