The museum was opened in 2001. It is a departmental museum, but at the same time it has a national status, which has become a recognition of the value and importance of its collections at the state level.
The collections of the museum comprised archaeological materials collected by researchers of Tajikistan and their colleagues from scientific and museum centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, other cities of the Russian Federation, as well as foreign scientists for almost a century of archaeological research in Tajikistan.
The exposition of the museum is located in a two-story building and presents masterpieces and valuable archaeological monuments from excavations conducted by the Academy of Sciences in Tajikistan. The museum is proud of its collections of products of the Hellenistic era from the temple of Oxus on the site of Takhti-Sangin, masterpieces of wall painting in Penjikent.
The most popular and valuable museum exhibit of all of Tajikistan is usually called the statue of Buddha in Nirvana exhibited in the museum. Its length is 12.85 m and weight is 5.5 tons. The statue was discovered during archaeological research of the Buddhist monastery of the early Middle Ages in Ajina-teppe and today is one of the largest and most ancient monuments of Buddhism in the world.
The museum also presents unique monuments of material and spiritual culture found during excavations in Khujand, Penjikent, Istaravshan, Kulyab, Khulbuk. Etiquette in Tajik and English.
Detailed information about the museum, its collections, displays, staff, publications and projects is available at http://www.afc.ryukoku.ac.jp. The web site of the museum was created in cooperation with the Digital Archive and the Research Center of Rukoki University (Japan).
The museum is one of the most visited museums in Dushanbe. Sightseeing and thematic excursions are conducted for tourists, schoolchildren and students. The museum participates in foreign exhibitions.
Address: Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, str. Radjabov, 7
Tel.: (992-37) 227-13-50, 221-37-42
The museum is open: from 10.00 to 17.00
Saturday: from 10.00 to 16.00
Sunday: from 10.00 to 14.00
Entrance fee: 15 somoni