This museum has some of the richest collection of Gandharan sculptures, Pahari and Rajasthani miniature paintings. Before Partition in 1947, the collection of art objects, paintings, sculptures and decorative arts, were housed in the Central Museum, Lahore, then capital of Punjab. On 10 April 1948, the division of collection took place by which 60 percent of objects were retained by Pakistan and the remaining 40 percent collection consisting mainly of Gandharan sculptures and Indian miniature 22 paintings (Mughal and Pahari schools) became part of its collection. This collection was first housed in Amritsar then Shimla, Patiala and finally shifted to Chandigarh. After its inauguration, a few other buildings were added to cater to the needs of the museum’s expansion. The museum has four wings of which the building of the art gallery is the largest. Another wing constitutes the Natural History Museum, Chandigarh Architecture Museum and National Gallery of Portraits.

About the collection: It has the second largest collection of Gandhara sculptures (627) in India after Indian Museum, Kolkata; Almost all important centres of Pahari schools are represented in the collection of Indian miniature painting; A seated image of Devi from Sholapur in Maharashtra and a seated stone image of Jina figure from Vijaynagar in South India form iconic part of the medieval Indian sculpture collection. Other sculptures belong to Brahmanical faith from Agroha and Pinjore in Haryana and a few sites from Punjab, Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh; The collection also includes ancient Indian sculptures; metal sculpture; epigraphy and numismatics; decorative art; textiles and contemporary Indian art.