City Museum is an

archaeology museum An archaeology museum is a museum that specializes in the display of archaeological artifacts. Many archaeology museum are in the open air, such as the Ancient Agora of Athens and the Roman Forum.David Watkin. ''The Roman Forum.'' Cambridge, Ma ...

located on the archaeological site of Gorkhatri,

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

in the

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The museum was inaugurated on 23 March 2006 by

Akram Khan Durrani Akram Khan Durrani (, ; born 2 March 1960) is a Pakistani politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in office from 2 October 2018 till 18 January 2023. He previously served as the Chief M ...

, the then

Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the head of government of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The chief minister leads the legislative branch of the provincial government, and is elected by the Provincial Assembly. As lon ...

. The museum consists of three galleries: archaeological, ethnological, and antiquities. The latter is the most recent addition, exhibiting the antiquities of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

which provide detailed information about archaeological and ethnological profile of Peshawar.

History

Gorkhatri is the highest place in Peshawar and it is located at the heart of walled city of old Peshawar. The site having a huge deposit of the historical periods began from the

Indo-Greeks The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of var ...

or even earlier. The current structure of the Gorkhatri complex was established by

Jahanara Begum Jahanara Begum (23 March 1614 – 16 September 1681) was a princess of the Mughal Empire. She was the second and the eldest surviving child of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. After Mumtaz Mahal's untimely death in 1631, the 17-ye ...

, the daughter of the

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Shah Jahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked the ...

in 1640 A.D.

Excavation

The excavations took place at the site of Gorkhatri from 1994 to 1995 and from that time on a series of excavations took place in the subsequent years. The complex was established as caravanserai for the merchandiser who came to Peshawar from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and other areas. It was originally consisting of two monumental entrance (gateways), a Jamia Masjid and Hamam and a sequential of small cells (rooms) on four sides. The area is now occupied by modern buildings and a Hindu temple only the gateways and some small cells are present. The archaeological gallery of this museum represents a continuous profile of the Peshawar Valley in the form of excavation material recovered from the site of Gorkhuttree. This was discovered by an excavation from 2002 to 2011 led by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The second gallery is of ethnological culture of Peshawar, where household objects, traditional dresses, armaments, ornaments, musical instruments, arts, and craft objects are exhibited.

References

External links

Directorate of Archaeology & Museums KP Pakistan
{{Museums in Pakistan 2006 establishments in Pakistan Art museums and galleries in Pakistan History museums in Pakistan Museums established in 2006 Museums in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourist attractions in Peshawar

History

Excavation

See also

References

External links