Partition Museum
Photo: Own work — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Partition Museum in Amritsar is dedicated to the 1947 Partition of India, housing artifacts, oral histories, and archival materials.
Planning your visit
The Partition of India in 1947 displaced somewhere between ten and twenty million people and killed perhaps a million, and for decades it had no museum anywhere. The Partition Museum in Amritsar, opened in 2017, was the first — a People's Museum built substantially from donated objects and recorded oral histories rather than state archives.
Amritsar is the right city for it. Punjab was cut in half by the Radcliffe Line, drawn in five weeks by a lawyer who had never visited India, and the province saw the worst violence. Trains arrived at Amritsar station carrying only the dead. The museum's galleries move from the political road to Partition through the migration itself to resettlement, closing with a Tree of Hope on which visitors write.
The objects are ordinary and devastating: a suitcase, a key to a house never returned to, a sewing machine carried across the new border.
It sits near the Golden Temple. Bookable options combine it with the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh, the 1919 massacre site. Allow two hours. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is Partition Museum?
Partition Museum is in Amritsar, India. The map on this page marks its exact location.
How long should I allow for Partition Museum?
Allow two hours. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
What are the opening hours of Partition Museum?
Sun Closed. Hours change on public holidays, so check the official site before travelling.
Do I need to book Partition Museum in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.