Museums & Art galleries

Archeological Museum, Velha Goa

Archaeological Museum and Portrait Gallery

The museum was set up by Archaeological Survey of India in 1964 in the convent of St. Francis of Assisi church. The convent had been closed since 1864 by the Portuguese government. Nine kilometres from Panaji, within the compound of St Francis of Assisi church, this museum will transport you to the Golden age of Goa when it was still under Portuguese domination.

The museum has a rich and rare collection of artifacts, maps and portraits etc. Some prominent displays of the museum are middle and upper Paleolithic stone tools, Microliths and a few Neolithic Celts, a six meter high statue of Alfonso de Albuquerque, excavated materials from Chandnor, copper coins and copper nails, rings from third century B.C etc.

There are eight galleries in the museum which can be described as eight different sections of the museum. Among the numerous displays of galleries are sixty portraits of viceroys and governors of Goa, a wooden statue of St. Peter and a unique collection of Hindu deities. There is a standing statue of Lord Vishnu accompanied by Goddess Laxmi and Garuda on either side.

The museum is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and is closed on Mondays and government holidays.