The museum is home to a significant and comprehensive collection of Gandharan art dating from the 1st to the 7th centuries CE.

Construction of Taxila museum started in 1918, its foundation stone laid by Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India in 1918.

Construction was concluded in 1928[1] and the museum was opened for public by Sir Muhammad Habibullah then the Minister for Education.

Sir John Marshall who was going to be retired from the post of Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1928, could not complete its original plan.

Other objects come from excavated sites elsewhere in Gandhanra, from donations such as the Ram Das Collection, or from material confiscated by the police and custom authorities.