The museum behind the golden door

The Patan Museum displays the traditional sacred art of Nepal in an illustrious architectural setting. Its home is an old residential court of Patand Durbar, one of the palaces of the former Malla kings of the Kathmandu valley. Its gilded door and window face one of the most beautiful squares in the world.

The museum's exhibits cover a long span of Nepal's cultural history and some rare objects are among its treasures. Their meaning and context within the living traditions of Hinduism and Budhhism are explained. Most of the objects are cast bronzes and gilt copper repousse work, traditional crafts for which Patan is famous.

The majority of exhibits are sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist deities which were created in the Kathmandu Valley, many in the nearby workshops of Patan itself. Others originated in India, Tibet and western Himalayas. They are accompanied by written commentry explaining their spiritual and art historical significance as part of the cultural heritage of Nepal. The exhibits are also designed to assist in interpreting the living culture that lies beyond the museum's walls.

Stone Art Section

This section lies in the ground floor of the building beside the main entrance of the Gallery. In the arcade, there are some representative stone inscriptions have been shown including the time of Lichchavi King Shiva Deva and King Yaksha Malla dated 588 N.S. There are some remarkable stone sculptures. The stone sculputures here are mostly from Bhaktapur area and some of them are the best representative of early medieval to medieval sculputure art of Nepal.The four faced Shivalinga, Harihar, Surya, Chandrama, Vishnu, Tara, Ardhanariswar and some architectural fragments are worth mentioning stone art exhibits.

Painting Section

The first floor has various mediums of works of paintings. In this section paubhas are remarkable particularly. Among those that deserve close consideration are Vasundhara Mandala, Ganesh with sakti, Mahisa Sambhara, Vajra Yogini and Shiva Viswarupa. In the main exhibition hall of the section, there are five showcases in the middle of the room, these showcases are exhibited a few illustrated manuscripts and covers. Among them the most notable is the pilgrimage tour of King Pratap Malla. Another remarkable manuscripts are 11th century Vishnu Dasavatara 13th century manuscript cover of Shiva Dharma Purana. In this section, there is a rectangular room like a corridor, the northern wall painting facing south has rows of paintings all with captions and Shiva Viswarupa, who is multiarmed and multiheaded. The wrist of cosmic manifestation of Shiva has name of King Bhupatindra Malla, 17th century ruler, who made famous fiftyfive windows palace.The long corridors have many water colour paintings of acquatic world, the mythical dragons, various birds, bulls and so on. They are the best representations of medieval folk art of Nepal.

Woodwork Section

The woodwork section has been housed in Pujari-math, which is situated at Hachapal tole of Bhaktapur behind Dattatreya temple. The Pujari-math is considered as the oldest math in the Kathmandu Valley. The Pujari Math with courtyards are decorated with richly carved windows and pillars. The Mara Vijaya, Pooja Devi, Viswaroop and Aryatara, these are the magnificient exhibits of woodwork section.

Metalwork Section

The metalwork section has been housed at Chikan Pha Math, which is situated at Tachapal tole of Bhaktapur, just opposite to Pujari Math. This section has been popularly known as iconless metal work. In this section, the religious and ritual objects of Newar community have been displayed particularly. Almost exhibits are of early 20^th century.