Malakand Museum,Dir — Attraction in Adenzai Tehsil

Dir Museum also known as Chakdara Museum is located in Chakdara , Lower Dir , Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , Pakistan . The Museum offers a fine and unique collection of Gandharan Art. The excavation in Dir started during 1966-1969 in various sites under the Department of Archaeology, University of Peshawar and got the collection from the area. Dir museum was constructed by then State Government of Dir while the construction was proposed by Capt. Rahatulah Khan Jaral (then Political Agent of Dir Agency), and allocated a sum of 0.25 million for the construction. Later the Provincial Government allocated further fund of 0.49 million for the construction of boundary wall, residential quarters, guest house, storage and other facilities in the museum. Dir museum is based on history of Dir which is most important both historically and culturally and the history goes back to the 2nd millennium BC . The evidence of the history was gained by the excavation of numerous burials of Aryans at Timergara and other places, dating from 6th to 18th century BC.Then they were followed by the Achaemenid Empire , and the Achaemenid were expel by the invasion of Alexander in 327 BC, and faced a great trouble in conquering the local population. After that Greek historians have paid great tributes to the population. The Greeks were followed by the Gandharan Civilization and achieved a great fame, and have most significant period there by leaving of the monumental remains of the Buddhist stupas and monasteries, a few of which are present at museum. Dir have an important position as a center of Gandhara Art. The Gandhara defined by the Pilgrims and historians " (the land of fragrance and beauty) ", because this area have around the most important places, like the Indus River at the west and Kabul River at north which included the valleys of Peshawar, Swat, Dir and Bajaur, and Taxila Valley at the east in Punjab, and not only in Pakistan but extending westwards to Hadda and Bamiyan in Afghanistan. Therefore the region of Dir is filled with the remains of the Gandharan...

Museums are usually open for all public and are free of cost whereas some private museums charge entrance fee. In Pakistan there are many museums located in cities and small towns such as Chakdara museum, Mohatta Palace, Sindh Museum, National Art Gallery etc. Chakdara Museum is situated on the way to Dir and Chitral two Km from the bridge of Chakdara, a district of Khyber PakhtunKhwa, situated in the north of Malakand. In this museum, well arranged sculptures of Buddhist Gandharan have been kept. These sculptures are thousand years old and are of great importance. Chakdara Museum was designed by Saidal Khan. The architect of the museum has kept the ancient style in his mind and built it with Malakandi Stone. This stone reflects the strength of locals. This museum has a beautiful appearance with arch-shaped entrance and with 2 square towers.

Chakdara Museum was a museum of the state in the beginning but it was taken under the control of provisional Govt. This government constitutes a group of governors to run the affairs of Chakdara museum. G. Azhar khan laid the foundation stone of museum on 20th September, 1970. Later on, the museum was inaugurated by retired Fazl e Haq on 30th May, 1979. Thepurpose of building this museum was to display sculptors, jewelry, and weapons etc. The museum has a cluster of almost 2000 objects having approximately 1500 Gandharan pieces. The cluster includes the birth stories of Buddha, symbols of worship and the Buddha sculptors. Important portion of Buddha life includes the marriage, castle life, school, first meditation, first sermon at Sarnath, jewelry, weapons, etc. Other big size Buddha statues are also included in the collection. Another gallery founded in 1977 consists of almost 500 objects including the dresses, furniture, household utensils, and...

Dir occupied an important position as a center of Gandhara Art. Pilgrims and historians have defined Gandhara, (the land of fragrance and beauty), as "the area to the west of Indus and north of Kabul rivers which included the valleys of Peshawar, Swat, Dir and Bajaur, extending westwards to Hadda and Bamiyan in Afghanistan and Taxila Valley in Punjab in the east". The region of Dir is therefore littered with the remains of the Gandharan Civilization and Dir Museum, Chakdara, offers a fine and unique collection of Gandharan Art. The museum building was designed by Mr. Saidal Khan, Consultant Architect of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Works Department. The designer, while designing the museum, kept the local style of architecture in mind and constructed it of bare stone, called Malakandi stone, an architectural element common in the area and reflecting the strength and dynamism of the locals. The museum has a fort like appearance with a grand facade, consisting of an arched entrance, two square corner picket-towers and battlements on...