Bodhgaya Museums

We have archeology on television, and I quite like it; it's a sort of detective thing, but it's really true, you know it's there… But it's kind of slow on telly, it has this problem of, "We've been here three weeks on live television, and we've taken off about a millimeter of top soil so far…" There's men with brushes and beards… maybe they've just got beards, I'm not sure… "We found this and carbon-dated it to last Tuesday, so we're very excited…"
Arco Eddie Izzard

According to the above quote, if archeology is a sort of detective thing, then you will find so many places and things to detect provided you are on a trip to a historical place like Bodhgaya! To say something about Bodhgaya Museums, it can easily be said that the whole city in the Indian state of Bihar can be aptly termed as a huge museum for here you will find things dated back to 6th century BC, remnants of Buddhism, the decayed but excavated structure of Nalanda University, plenty of Buddha stupas, shrines and several other things related to the past history of this place.

Run by the Archaeological Survey of India, Bodhgaya Museums (actually there is one museum named Archaeological Museum, Bodhgaya) is located near the Mahabodhi temple. It is home to antiquities excavated in and around Bodh Gaya. Here you will find a great collection of Buddhist and Hindu relics, terracotta seals, scriptures and railings/pillars from the Sunga period (1 BC to 1 AD).

Bodhgaya Museums, that is the Archaeological Museum in the city, is open from 9 am to 4.30 pm. The museum is closed on Fridays, and there is an entry fee of Rs 2.