Museums and Galleries in Pakistan

On independence Pakistan inherited seven museums, out of which Museums at Lahore and Peshawar were run by the Provincial Governments while site museum of at Harappa, Moenjodaro, Taxila and the Armoury Museum in Lahore Fort were looked after by Central Government through its Department of Archaeology. Immediately after independence plans were taken in hand to establish National Museum of Pakistan. It was on 17th April 1950 that the National Museum of Pakistan was inaugurated in Freer Hall building, replacing the defunct Victoria Museum. In order to advise the National Museum of Pakistan to enrich its collection through new acquisition, an Advisory Council for the purchase of antiquities and works of Arts was also formed by the government in 1950. The development of museums in the country has been spectacular and the last decades have seen quite a few museums being established and many others reorganized on modern lines. Recently a museum exclusively devoted to Allama Iqbal at Javed Manzil, Lahore and another House Museum in the Quaid-I-Azam House (Flag Staff House) Karachi have been established. The detail of the existing museums under the charge of the Department of Archaeology & Museums as well as some of the private museums is given below:
Provinces:	S. No.	Name of Museum	Establishment
Balochistan:	1	Quetta Museum, Quetta	1972
NWFP:	2	Peshawar Museum,	1947
	3	University Museum-Peshawar,	1995
	4	Chakdara Museum,	1960
	5	Archaeological Museum, Saidu Sharif, Swat.	1963
Punjab:	6	Archaeological Museum Taxila, Distt. Rawalpindi	1990
	7	Armoury Museum, old Fort, Lahore	1928
	8	Mughal and Sikh Galleries in Lahore-Fort.	1928
	9	Archaeological Museum, Harappa, Distt: Sahiwal (Reorganized)	1965
	10	Allama Iqbal Museum, Javed Manzil, Lahore.	1967
	11	Museum-cum-Library at Iqbal Manzil, Sialkot.	1977
	12	Bahawalpur Museum, Bahawalpur	1977
	13	Faqirkhana Museum, Lahore, (Private)
	14	Chughatai Museum, Lahore, (Private)
	15	Shakir Ali Museum, Lahore, (Private)
	16	Arts & Craft Museum Lahore, (Punjab govt.)
	17	Science Museum-Lahore,
	18	Lokvirsa Museum- Islamabad
	19	Natural History Museum- Islamabad
Sindh:	20	National Museum of Pakistan of Pakistan, Karachi	1990
	21	Museum at Quaid-I-Azam Birth Place Karachi (Flag Staff House Museum)	1950
	22	Archaeological Museum, Moenjodaro Distt. Larkana (Reorganized)	1953
	23	Archaeological Museum, Banbhore, Distt. Thatta.	1967
	24	Archaeological Museum, Omerkot, Distt: Tharparkar	1967
	25	Archaeological Museum, Hyderabad Fort, Hyderabad.	1968
	26	Moenjodaro Museum-Moenjodaro.
	27	University Museum-Hyderabad
		Galleries
Karachi	Arts Council Gallery, Ali Imam Gallery, Koonj Gallery-
Lahore	Al-Hamra Art Gallery, Lahore Art Gallery, Croweater Gallery-
Islamabad	National Art Gallery, Nomad Art Gallery- Rohtas Art Gallery -
	(LOK VIRSA) FOLK ART MUSEUM, ISLAMABAD.