With the view of housing objects discovered in course of excavations at Sanchi, a small museum was established on the hilltop, in 1919, by Sir John Marshall, former Director General of ASI. Later Archaeological Survey of India acquired a college building at the foot hills of Sanchi Stupa where the artefacts were shifted in 1996. This museum is near the Sanchi Stupa comprising of a main hall and four galleries.

About the collection: The artefacts form core of the heritage of Sanchi while a few objects are from archaeological excavations carried out at Gulgaon, Vidisha, Murelkhurd and Gyaraspur. The museum has four galleries and a verandah showing nine exhibits. There are 16 iconic works of art from 3rd century. BC. to medieval period. The Ashokan lion Capital with four lion seated back to back is represented in the main hall in an alcove. The entry to the museum is through the main hall as its key gallery with a chronological display structure reflecting the age of Maurya, Sunga, Satvahana, Kushana, Gupta and post Gupta art.

Some of the iconic artefacts attracting attention of the visitors are sculpture of Nagaraja of Shunga period, a torana showing Buddha’s enlightenment, a 1st century B.C sculpture of Yakshi, sculpture of Dhyani Buddha from Mathura dating to 4th C.A.D and the image of Bodhisattva Padmapani dating to 5th C.A.D.