Do you consider yourself a purveyor of fine and historical arts?
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If you’ve visited places like Greece, Turkey, and Italy to visit well-known ruins and pursue the world of ancient mosaics, sculptures, and art forms, you have another horizon waiting for you.
Welcome to Greco-Buddhist art, also called Gandhara.
I’m not a fine arts specialist nor a historian, but let me humbly introduce you to this ancient school of art. Between the 1st and 5th centuries CE, a new form evolved that included Ancient Greek and Buddhist motifs. The style evolved in the region of Gandhara, located in modern-day Pakistan, thanks to the presence of the Silk Road.
It’s also the region where Alexander the Great briefly forayed during his many military escapades. The presence of Ancient Greek troops brought with them other cultural elements, including Greco-Roman motifs and designs that are recognized as part of Hellenistic art.
At the same time, in the same region, the Buddhist Ashoka empire was also present. The confluence of Ancient Greek art and Buddhist themes led to one of the coolest cultural mashups I’ve ever heard of. Picture large stone sculptures in a classic Hellenistic style—except the sculpture doesn’t portray a god or philosopher. Instead, it depicts Buddha.
Despite the fact that Greco-Buddhist art comes from a very small corner of the world and lost popularity after a short four-hundred-year run, you can see pieces in museums around the world. Here’s where to see Greco-Buddhist art around the world.
Places to see Greco-Buddhist art
Peshawar Museum (Pakistan)
Peshawar is a city located in the ancient Gandhara region, where Greco-Buddhist art took off. Today, it’s a city and the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan’s northwest region. When it was opened back in 1907, it was dedicated to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and bore her name.
As of 2025, the Peshawar Museum houses around 14,000 pieces based on regional art forms, from Gandhara to Kushan to Indo-Scythian pieces. In terms of Gandhara, you can learn about terracotta figurines, stone sculptures, and other pieces related to Buddhism, including stories about Buddha’s life and enlightenment.
Lahore Museum (Pakistan)
Peshawar Museum is small compared to Lahore Museum, the largest museum in Pakistan. It was also built during the British Colonial period, opening in 1894. Since then, it has remained a mainstay for archaeological finds related to Gandhara and Indo-Greek kingdoms. It’s home to one of the most famous Greco-Buddhist art pieces in the world, titled Fasting Buddha.
The Met (NYC)
New York City’s famous Met has just over 70 archaeological pieces from the ancient region of Gandhara. Not all are designed in a Greco-Buddhist style—Gandhara is an area on the Silk Road that eventually evolved beyond its Hellenistic influences. The Met’s collection highlights this range, showcasing Greco-Buddhist art, along with other pieces like ancient dies, ivory combs, and reliquaries.
Dallas Museum of Art (Texas)
Texas is home to the rest of the United States’ collection of Greco-Buddhist art. The Dallas Museum of Art has a few famous pieces in its exhibits, including the Thinking Bodhisattva to the Head of Buddha. You can find these pieces in the museum’s South Asia section.
Tokyo National Museum (Japan)
Tokyo National Museum has one of the world’s most famous Gandhara pieces—one that a foremost archaeologist studying the art form considered to be the most beautiful and ancient. The piece is called the Standing Buddha and dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. The base of the statue, including one of its hands, is still fully intact—a rarity for such large, ancient pieces.
Aside from the Standing Buddha, the museum is home to other large Greco-Buddhist sculptures, including the Seated Buddha from Gandhara and the Preaching Buddha.
British Museum (London)
If you know anything about museums, archaeology, and history, you were probably waiting for me to bring up the British Museum. It famously houses (maybe bogarts) pieces from around the world—including Greco-Buddhist pieces. You can explore dozens of pieces, from statues to reliefs to relics, that showcase the fusion between Hellenistic and Buddhist art forms.
Musée Guimet (Paris)
Move over, British Museum. When it comes to Greco-Buddhist art in the western hemisphere, France’s Musée Guimet in Paris takes the cake. The museum houses famous pieces, including a standing Buddha carved from schist, a bronze statue of Avalokiteshvara (an important figure in Buddhism), and even a Corinthian column that’s lined with meditating Buddhas.
Famously, Musee Guimet also takes its Gandhara exhibits on the road—meaning you might not need to book a ticket to France to see some of the museum’s coolest pieces.
National Museum (New Delhi)
Many small regional museums around India have exhibits covering Greco-Buddhist art, but the most impressive collection is housed at New Delhi’s National Museum. It’s got a life-sized sculpture made of schist of the Buddha, along with a preserved wooden panel that’s been covered with Gandharan art.
