The National Museum of Bhutan (NMB) in Paro has now reopened for tourists after completion of extensive restoration work. The museum was closed to visitors for almost 9 years for restoration work after many valuable artifacts were damaged during an earthquake in 2011.

However due to ongoing pandemic and in a bid to limit the spread of local coronavirus transmission, the people who want to visit the museum must adhere to health and safety measures such as wearing a face mask and gloves at all times, frequent hand washing and maintaining a distance of at least one meter from other visitors.

All visitors whose travel is restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic can easily visit the museum virtually at the museum’s official website. “The virtual tour feature was to ease crowding and to make the museum accessible to everyone,” said Mr. Phendey Lekshey Wangchuk, the officiating Director of the NMB.

The museum was established in 1968 by the first Paro Penlop La Ngonpa Tenzin Drugdra in an ancient Ta-dzong building above Rinpung Dzong. Later in 1960, His Majesty the Third Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck passed an order to renovate the dzong and to turn it into the first museum in the country.

The seven-storey museum called as the only encyclopedic museum in Bhutan because it has country’s rich history and treasures with collections of ethnography, philately, numismatics, textiles, bronze and copperware.

According to Mr. Phendey Lekshey Wangchuk, other than new amenities such as modern museum lighting system and security surveillance system, the original traditional structure was preserved by the NMB.

The museum exhibits more than 3,000 permanent artworks that represent the Bhutanese cultural heritage over 1,500 years. Besides collecting, preserving, interpreting and exhibiting objects, the museum also compiles documents on tangible and intangible heritage of the country.

In regards to COVID-19 transmission in Bhutan, the country has reported a total number of 70 confirmed cases which are under treatment and no patient has died due to virus. However, 34 patients who tested positive to COVID-19 have completely recovered from the virus, as of Friday (June 26).