The Varendra Research Museum is the oldest museum in Bangladesh and one of the most important collections of early medieval South Asian art anywhere in the world. Its central strength is sculpture from the Pala and Sena dynasties — the kingdoms that dominated Bengal and Bihar between the 8th and 12th centuries, when this region was a centre of Buddhist and Hindu artistic production. The collection includes hundreds of stone and bronze images of Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, and lesser deities, many of extraordinary quality, as well as terracotta plaques, coins, inscriptions, and manuscripts.
The museum is maintained by Rajshahi University and occupies a modest colonial-era building near the city centre. It is not large, but the density of significant objects is remarkable. The Pala bronzes in particular — many found in the silted-up river beds of the region — stand comparison with the best early medieval Indian metalwork. Rajshahi's role as a source for looted sculptures means that what remains here represents the fraction that was preserved; the scale of what was lost can only be guessed at.