Standing proud for over a hundred years The Lahore Museum signifies the past, present and future of the one mighty city of the Mughal Empire. The imposing two storey building of The Lahore Museum was constructed in 1887 to serve as a memorial for the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, although the beginning of the museum can be traced back as far as 1864. The Lahore exhibition, a part of the successful London exhibition of 1851 was held at the exhibition hall which later was called Tolliton`s market. And in the later of the 19th century became a part of the current museum.
The building is a perfect example of Anglo-Mughal architecture. The current structure was designed by Lockwood Kipling and Bhai ram Singh. This was the first building ever to be designed especially as a museum. The students of the Mayo school took deep interest in the designing, building and the interior of the museum structure.
The museum houses a vast collection archeological goods and it also boosts a number of painting from different regions and era`s ranging from Mughal to Sikhs and the British. There are also some fine works of wood of Mughal and Sikhs in the museum. The relics from graeco-bactrian era and Nepalese and Tibetan works are a great attraction and so is the great coin collection of the museum. The coin collection is extensive, comprising of coins from Mughal and Hellenistic times. There are also a good number of coins that were part of private collections but were later purchased by the government of Punjab to expand the catalogue of The Lahore Museum, and the government was gracious enough to maintain these collections as well as