The Indian Museum was founded by Dr Nathaniel Wallich a Danish botanist at Serampore (originally called Frederischnagore) near Kolkata (Calcutta), India, in 1814. It is a multi-disciplinary institution of national standing and is one of oldest museums in the world.

This was the first museum of its kind in Asia. From 1814 to 1878, it was located at the premises of Asiatic Society in Kolkata, but has since moved to its own premises in the city. It occupies a resplendent mansion, and exhibits among others: an Egyptian mummy, the Buddhist stupa from Bharhut, the Buddha's ashes, the Ashoka pillar, whose three-lion symbol became the official emblem of the Republic of India, fossil skeletons of prehistoric animals like dinosaurs, an art collection, rare antiques, and a collection of meteorites.