Bihar Museum in Patna was recently ranked ahead of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre in Paris. The museum has secured the ninth place on The World's 100 Best Museums 2026, published by German travel guide Worth a Journey. The Met stands tenth and the Louvre 31st. It is the only Indian institution on the list and the highest-ranked museum in Asia. For a museum that opened barely a decade ago, it is a significant achievement. More so because there was a time when the project itself faced serious opposition, with questions raised about its cost, relevance and the way it was being executed.

Reflecting on the recognition in a recent LinkedIn post, YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma recalled the roles played by two people in getting the museum built: Nitish Kumar, who championed the project as Bihar's Chief Minister, and 1992-batch IAS officer Chanchal Kumar, who was entrusted with its execution. When the state government proposed spending nearly Rs 500 crore on a world-class museum in Patna, the decision attracted criticism. Why should a state struggling with basic infrastructure invest so much in a museum? Who would visit it? Could the money have been better spent elsewhere? According to Sharma, even people within the political establishment questioned the proposal. Nitish Kumar, however, stood by the project, convinced that Bihar needed an institution worthy of its historical and cultural heritage.

This Diwali, this one is for everyone who has ever been written off. A museum in Patna now ranks above the Met in New York and the Louvre in Paris.

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