IN THIS POST:
– About Lok Virsa Museum
– History of the Museum
– Location of the Museum
– Popular Exhibits
– Museum Timings
– Museum Ticket Prices
– Lok Virsa Heritage Library
– Lok Mela
If you’re taking a trip to Islamabad, don’t forget to visit the Lok Virsa Museum located in the Shakarparian Hills. This museum in Islamabad is known by a number of names and is home to exhibits that display Pakistan’s cultural heritage. Here’s all you need to know about visiting the Lok Virsa Museum.
About Lok Virsa Museum, Islamabad
Also known as the Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology, Folk Heritage Museum, or simply, Heritage Museum, the Lok Virsa Museum owes its name to the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) that oversees the museum’s development and manages all the events and exhibits taking place on the grounds.
The Lok Virsa Museum displays a large collection of statues, pottery, craftwork, and dioramas that reflect the culture of Pakistan encompassing traditional crafts from all of the different provinces and ethnicities that reside in the country. The museum is also home to a library, a research centre, a media centre, and a souvenir shop.
History of Lok Virsa Museum
Established in 1982 over approximately 20,000 square feet as the Folk Art Museum, the museum was renamed as the Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology in 2004, following an extensive renovation. It now covers nearly 60,000 square feet of space with exhibit halls, a library, a media centre, and much more. The museum aims to educate the masses regarding Pakistan’s rich cultural history, by displaying crafts from even the remotest regions of the country and is one of the largest collections of cultural exhibits in Pakistan.
Location of Lok Virsa Museum
The Lok Virsa Museum is located in the Shakarparian Hills and you can reach it on foot from the Shakarparian View Point and the Pakistan Monument. Alternatively, take the Shakarparian Interchange on the Islamabad Expressway to head on to Garden Avenue, which will take you directly to the museum.
Garden Avenue also connects to Murree Road on the other side of the hills, passing through the entirety of Shakarparian National Park. The Pakistan Museum of Natural History is also located on this route, at a short distance from the Heritage Museum.
Exhibits at Lok Virsa Museum
The Folk Heritage Museum exhibits pottery, statues, handmade jewellery, embroidered fabrics, block printed fabrics, wooden and metallic craftwork, mirror work, as well as crafts and architectural facades made from mosaics, tiles, ivory, bone, and marble. It houses and proudly displays cultural crafts and traditional artwork from all of the provinces in Pakistan including the music and history of each region.
Lok Virsa Museum Timings
The Lok Virsa Museum is open for the public from Tuesday to Sunday between 10 am to 8 pm. There’s also a prayer break of 1.5 hours scheduled for Friday from 12:30 pm to 2 pm, during which, visitors will not be admitted into the museum. The museum is closed on Mondays.
Lok Virsa Museum Ticket Prices
Here are the ticket prices for the Lok Virsa Museum:
- Visitors (Local): PKR 50
- Visitors (Foreigner): PKR 500
- Local Students: PKR 10
- Children (Under 7 Years of Age): Free
About Lok Virsa Heritage Library
Situated beside the museum, the Heritage Library contains more than 30,000 books, manuscripts, journals, and research papers that can enable students, scholars, as well as citizens, to learn more about the cultural history and heritage of Pakistan. It is also home to around 200 books published by the Lok Virsa on similar topics. Audio recordings of classical and folk music can also be found here.
About Lok Virsa Mela
The grounds of the museum are also the venue for the annual Lok Mela, which is the best time to visit the museum, as you not only get to explore the exhibits but can also meet artisans from all over the country selling and displaying their artistic capabilities on various stalls. The Lok Mela 2019 was a 10-day event held in November 2019, while recent updates state that Lok Mela 2020 might be held in the first week of October 2020 with complete SOPs being followed. We’ll keep you updated on the news once the date is confirmed.
Now you know all about visiting the Lok Virsa Museum in Islamabad. The Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology is also home to a souvenir shop that allows you to purchase some of the fabulous handmade crafts that you’ve just explored and take them home as a memory of your trip. Call 051-9249200 if you have any queries and need to reach the museum’s administration.
Here are some other tourist attractions in Islamabad that you might like to visit during your trip. Stay tuned to Zameen Blog for more tourism and travel-related posts. We can be reached at blog@zameen.com for all of your comments and suggestions.
*[Cover Image Credits: Official Website of Lok Virsa]
