Bangladesh National Museum is the National Museum of Bangladesh. It is located in Shahbag, the heart of Dhaka city. It is near to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and Dhaka University. It was launched in the first week of August 1913. However, 70 years after the museum was launched, it was given the status of National Museum on November 17, 1983. There are separate galleries on history, heritage and modern and ancient world-civilization, all ancient materials of Bangladesh, anthropology, art, social system of Bengal, social structure, archeology, medium of exchange, map of Bangladesh and various patterns of Bangladesh during liberation war. Ahsan Manzil in Dhaka, Zia Memorial Museum in Chittagong, Osmani Museum in Sylhet and Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Museum in Mymensingh are the four museums run under the control of Bangladesh National Museum.
About 94,000 collected specimens have been arranged in the Bangladesh National Museum. A computer database has been compiled with the names of the patterns, brief identities, descriptive catalogs and photos and a separate access number for each pattern has been given. The collected specimens are arranged for public viewing. Here, the traditional Shitalpati of Sylhet, Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Chitrashala and Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra have been displayed.