Artist Subodh Gupta helped put Bihar on the global art map with his signature bartan sculptures.Even so, the art world was surprised to see the barely decade-old Bihar Museum ranked ninth on the ‘World’s 100 Best Museums 2026’ list, ahead of institutions such as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre in Paris.Published by Munich-based travel publication Worth a Journey, the list ranks the Patna institution as No. 1 in Asia.
It is the only Indian museum in the top 100. The rankings draw on visitor reviews, data analytics and on-site expert evaluations.
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The museum may not have the Mona Lisa, but it has a crown jewel of its own: the Didarganj Yakshi.Carved from a single block of highly polished Chunar sandstone, the 2,000-year-old, life-sized statue stands in an air-conditioned room. Her nose is chipped and her left arm broken, but she seems ready to swat away any obstacle with the fly-whisk (chauri) in her hand.Beyond the Yakshi, the 13.9-acre complex houses the famed Kurkihar bronzes, prehistoric stone tools and a Kushan-period ‘Birth of the Buddha’ slab. The museum building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki and Studio Opolis, an architectural practice located in Mumbai and Pune, is quite striking too.On X, industrialist Anand Mahindra called it “a seminal moment of recognition”, adding that it has the potential to be a game changer for the museum-going experience in India.
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