Gandhara art collection at Peshawar Museum impresses Thai monks

PESHAWAR: A group of Buddhist monks from Thailand visited the Peshawar Museum and was highly impressed with the rare collection of pieces from the Gandhara era.

Headed by Phallop Thaiarry, secretary general of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WEB), the group went round various sections of the museum and evinced keen interest in the statues of Buddha in different positions.

The delegation appreciated the art pieces of the standing and seated Buddha figures, his life story from birth to death as depicted in the Gandhara Gallery.

The monks also visited the Islamic and cultural sections and cultural gallery of the museum and lauded the collections. They were briefed by director of the museum, Saleh Muhammad, on the importance of the items displayed at the museum.

It was after some time that Buddhist monks from abroad visited the militancy-hit NWFP and the Peshawar Museum.

Over a century old Peshawar Museum, originally called Victoria Memorial Hall, has 14,101 items which range from Gandhara sculptures, coins, manuscripts and copies of the Holy Quran, inscriptions, weapons, dresses, jewellery, effigies, paintings from the Mughal era and later periods, household objects and local and handicrafts.

The museum has the largest collection of the Gandhara art in the world. In total, there are 4,247 Gandhara pieces including Buddhist stone sculptures and panels, stuccoed sculptures, terracotta figurines, relic caskets and toiletry objects.