KHULNA, Mar 14: The Khulna Divisional Museum is located near Shibbari intersection in the city. On the way up the wide stairs to the first floor, the eyes will be stuck seeing numerous rare pictures of the great Liberation War arranged in rows.
The especially-designed octagonal museum buildings have six exhibition galleries arranged in six wings. Inside galleries number one to six are thousands of years' old artifacts.
In the last two eras, the institution has become well-known for the entertainment and knowledge to the people of Khulna. In particular, it has become a rich repository of information and collections.
Assistant Director of the museum Md Golam Ferdous said the Khulna Divisional Museum is set up on an acre of land. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the museum building built at a cost of Tk 49.5 million (4.95 crore) on September 12, 1998.
Mentioning that it is the second-largest museum in Bangladesh in terms of size, he said, adding that the office of the regional director of the Khulna division of the Directorate of Archeology Department is located here.
Besides this, there is also a beautiful seminar room with 200 seats.
The museum, under the control of the Department of Archaeology, exhibits various antiquities of the Gupta, Pal, Sen, Mughal and British periods, terracotta, stone and black stone idols, Mughal period gold and silver coins, copper, iron, brass, clay and glass vessels, various metal toys, weapons and utensils and calligraphy.
The exhibition of the museum started from Gallery No. 1 to Gallery-6. Various artifacts collected from different regions of Khulna have been placed in this gallery.
Among them are Bharat Bhayana Buddhist Temple of Jashore, Pirpukur Mosque, Galakata Mosque, Jorbangla Mosque, Satgachia Mosque, Jahasha Ghata, Dum Dum Pirsthan Mound, Bagerhat Khan Jahan Ali (RA)'s archaeological excavations.
Apart from this, there are 12th-13th century Shakti idols from Khulna Art College, Marichi idols from Kachua of Bagerhat, terracotta items collected from Kapilmuni mound cluster in Khulna, Gupta period coins, administrative map of Khulna division etc.
Arabic and Persian manuscripts of 17th-19th centuries AD, hundred year-old wooden bed etc.
Bijay Kumar Ghosh, officer in charge of office supervision, said the museum is open from 01 April to 30 September from 10:00am to 6:00pm during summer and in winter it is open for visitors from 01 October to 31 March from 9:00am to 5:00pm.
The rest of the time is open except the Friday prayer break. Sunday is a weekend. Besides, the museum is closed on other public holidays.
Bijay Kumar Ghosh also said there is a ticket counter next to the gate of the museum. Entry fee for adults is Tk 20. Children and students 5th to 11th class ticket price is Tk 10.
Besides, the entrance fee for visitors from SAARC countries is Tk 100 and the ticket price for visitors from all other countries is Tk. 300.
Regional Director of the Directorate of Archeology Khulna Division Lovely Yasmin said apart from distribution of free pamphlets, Facebook page has been opened online to increase the number of visitors. Where various information and pictures of Khulna Divisional Museum are regularly uploaded so that school and college students including young, old and young girls are interested in visiting the museum.
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