page_title: Taxila, Pakistan
section_title: Museums
hierarchical_section_title: Taxila, Pakistan / Culture / Museums
caption_attribution_description: Indo-Greek artifacts from Taxila. Personal drawing, from John Marshall, "Taxila archaeological excavations". From top, left: - Fluted vase with bead and reel design (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) - Cup with rosace and decoratice scroll (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) - Stone palette with individual on a couch being crowned by standing woman, and served (Sirkap, stratum 5) - Handle with double depiction of a philosopher (Sirkap, stratum 5/4) - Woman with smile (Sirkap, stratum 5) - Man with moustache (Sirkap, stratum 5)
context_page_description: Taxila, is a city in Rawalpindi District of the Punjab, Pakistan. Taxila is situated about 32 km north-west of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, along the historic Grand Trunk Road, near the important Sikh pilgrimage centre of Hasan Abdal, and the Mughal-era Wah Gardens.
  Ancient Taxila was historically referred to as Takshashila in Sanskrit, and Takkasila in Pali. The earliest settlement at Taxila was founded around 1000 BCE at the Hathial site. The Hindu epic poem Mahābhārata is believed to have been first recited at Taxila, by the sage Vaiśampāyana. By some accounts, Taxila was home to one of the earliest, if not the first, universities in the world.
  Taxila's ruins are internationally renowned, and function as a series of interrelated sites, including: a mesolithic cave, the remains of 4 ancient cities, and Buddhist monasteries and stupas. The ancient ruins of Taxila were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
context_section_description: Taxila Museum has one of the most significant and comprehensive collections of stone Buddhist sculpture from the first to the seventh centuries in Pakistan (known as Gandharan art. The core of the collection comes from excavated sites in the Taxila Valley, particularly the excavations of Sir John Marshall. Other objects come from excavated sites elsewhere in Gandhara, from donations such as the Ram Das Collection, or from material confiscated by the police and custom authorities.
caption: Archaeological artifacts from the Indo-Greek strata at Taxila (John Marshall "Taxila, Archeological excavations"). From top, left: * Fluted cup (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) * Cup with rosace and decorative scroll (Bhir Mound, stratum 1) * Stone palette with individual on a couch being crowned by standing woman, and served (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Handle with double depiction of a philosopher (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Woman with smile (Sirkap, stratum 5) * Man with moustache (Sirkap, stratum 5)
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