National Museum, the fist public museum of Nepal till 1938 was not opened to general public. It was an arsenal museum and repository of weapons as well as a private collection of Royal family and Rana Prime Ministers. It was accessible to the general public in 1938 AD and was named as “Chhauni Silkhana“. The rate of first entrance fee was |4 paisa for children and |8 paisa for adults (Paisa – small unit of Nepalese Currency). It was renamed as Nepal Museum in 1942. It was formally named as National Museum (Rastriya Sangrahalaya ) in 1967. Ever since its inception, the museum has collected thousands of pre-historical, archeological , history and culturally important objects and thus occupies as very prominent position as a repository of ancient Nepalese art, culture, sculpture and painting.
National Museum has three exhibition buildings in its premise named as Historical building, Juddha Jatiya art gallery and Buddhist art gallery. Its collections are able to give clear and detail information about Nepalese art and culture to its visitors.
