Sri Pratap Singh Museum

The museum near Lal Mandi in Srinagar occupies what was once a summer residence of Kashmir's rulers. In 1898 Amar Singh and the scholar S.H. Godmerry proposed turning it into a museum, Maharaja Pratap Singh agreed, and the archaeologist John Marshall was asked to select its exhibits.

The collection now runs past 80,000 items from Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Baltistan and Gilgit. Sections cover archaeology, manuscripts, metalware, textiles, enamel, musical instruments, papier-mache and natural history. Highlights include sculpture from Pandrethan, Awantipora and Parihaspora, Buddhist pieces from Ladakh, texts on birch bark and Kashmiri paper, and fine local shawls. A newer fire and earthquake resistant block, added in 2017, holds the main displays beside the 19th-century building.