Full Day Private Guided Tour of Taxila Gandahara Civilization

Taxila Museum

Taxila Museum is located at Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan. The museum is home to a significant and comprehensive collection of Gandharan art dating from the 1st to the 7th centuries CE. Most objects in the collection were excavated from the ruins of ancient Taxila. There are many historical sites nearby the museum. The ancient stupas and others ruins are nearby it. Construction of Taxila museum started in 1918, its foundation stone laid by Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India in 1918. Construction was concluded in 1928 and the museum was opened for public by Sir Muhammad Habibullah. There are some 4000 objects displayed, including stone, stucco, terracotta, silver, gold, iron and semiprecious stones. Mainly the display consists of objects from the period 600 B.C to 500 AD. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain religion are well represented through these objects discovered from three ancient cities and more than two dozen Buddhist stupas and monasteries and Greek temples in region.

Dharmarajika Stupa And Monastery

The Dharmarajika Stupa the Great Buddhist stupa in Taxila, Pakistan. It was built over the relics of the Buddha by Ashoka in the 3rd century BCE. along with the large monastic complex that later developed around it, forms part of the Ruins of Taxila - which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The stupa was believed to have been reestablished in the 2nd century CE during the Kushan era in order to house relics of the Buddha, which may have been sourced from earlier monuments. Buddhist texts mention that frankincense was used during religious services at Dharmarajika, while the complex was paved with colourful glass tiles. Indo-Greek coins found at the site date from the 2nd century BCE. The site was devastated by the White Huns in the 5th century CE, and then abandoned.The White Huns destroyed not only Taxilan sites, but also devastated nearby cities.

The city of Sirkap was built by the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius after he invaded modern-day Pakistan around 180 BC. Demetrius founded an Indo-Greek kingdom that was to last until around 10 BC. Sirkap is also said to have been rebuilt by king Menander I. The excavation of the old city was carried out under the supervision of Sir John Marshall by Hergrew from 1912–1930. In 1944 and 1945 further parts were excavated by Mortimer Wheeler and his colleagues. Most of the discoveries at Sirkap related to the Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian periods (1st-2nd century CE). Overall excavations to the Greek levels have been very limited, and probably much remains hidden underground: in Sirkap, only about one eighth of the excavations were made down to the Indo-Greek and early Indo-Scythian levels, and this only in an area far removed from the center of the ancient city, where few discoveries could be expected