Bihar Museum in Patna ranked 1st best in Asia

• Bihar Museum ranks 9th in the world's best museums list for 2026
• It is the top-ranked museum in Asia and the only one from India
• Tickets cost Rs 100, with student discounts and evening rates available

Bihar Museum in Patna has been placed ninth on a list of the world’s 100 best museums, ahead of every other Asian museum. It is placed at number 1 in Asia.

The 2026 ranking comes from the travel guide Worth a Journey and covers museums of art, history, science, technology and open-air heritage across the globe. Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología leads the list, followed by Madrid’s Museo del Prado and Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum in Turkey take the next three places. Two Second World War museums, one in Gdańsk and one in New Orleans, sit just above Patna, while New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art follows at 10th. Bihar Museum is the only Indian museum in the entire 100. The guide describes it as a modern state museum that follows the story of Bihar from the Stone Age to the present day. Visitors move through chronological galleries filled with sculptures, coins, manuscripts and folk art. The building itself is spacious, with open courtyards and lawns that give the collection room to breathe. A short film on the region’s history helps set the scene before the galleries begin. Read More: Halloween 2026 in Delhi-NCR: Best Events to Celebrate Spooky Season with Friends and Family Three features are singled out. The ancient sculpture galleries anchor the collection, a regional folk art gallery gives space to the living traditions of the state, and a dedicated children’s gallery makes the museum a comfortable outing for families. The last of these is easy to overlook in a list that is otherwise dominated by old masters and ancient treasures, and it shows a museum built with a wider public in mind. For anyone planning a visit, the practicalities are simple. The museum is closed on Mondays. Tickets cost ₹100, with students paying half on showing a valid ID. Prices also reduce after 5 pm. The guide suggests setting aside four to five hours, a sign of how much there is to see. Address: Bihar Museum, Nehru Path, Patna, Bihar

Number one on the list: Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología

The museum ranked best in the world is Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología, which also tops the list for North America. It is devoted to the anthropology and pre-Hispanic cultures of Mexico, with halls given over to the Maya, Olmec and Mexica, among others. The modernist building, designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, is arranged around a central courtyard with a fountain, and many rooms open onto outdoor sections. The Aztec Sun Stone and the Mexica hall are among its highlights. The guide advises allowing at least three hours, though a full day is better. Sundays are free for Mexican nationals and tend to be crowded, and many labels are in Spanish only.