Varendra Research Museum

The oldest museum in Bangladesh, founded in 1910 in Rajshahi, this institution grew from a society devoted to studying the ancient Varendra region of northern Bengal. Its galleries are rich in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain stone sculpture, terracotta plaques and inscriptions gathered from surrounding archaeological sites. The ornate early twentieth-century building, now part of the local university, is itself a heritage structure. The collection is a key resource for the art history of the Pala and Sena dynasties.