ACT No. XVII or 1866. 
Passed by the Governor General of India in Council. 
{Received the assent of the Governor General on the 23rd 
March, 1866.) 
An Act to provide for the establishment of a Public 
Museum at Calcutta. 
“^TrilEREAS it is expedient to provide for the establishment 
tV of a Public Museum at Calcutta, to be 
ream e. called the Indian Museum ; It is enacted 
as follows :— 
1. The Governor General of India in Council shall cause 
to be erected, at the expense of the 
for india'Jf Government of India, a suitable building 
in Calcutta, on or near the site now 
occupied by the Small Cause Court, to be devoted in pa-’t to 
collections illustrative of Indian Archaeology and of the several 
branches of Natural History, in part to the preservation and 
exhibition of other objects of interest, whether historical, physical 
or economical, in part to the records and offices of the Geological 
Survey of India, and in part to the fit accommodation of the 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, and to the reception of their Library, 
Manuscripts, Maps, Coins, Busts, Pictures, Engravings, and other 
property. 
2. The said building shall be constructed according to such 
plans and specifications as shall have been 
Building to be erected approved of and ' agreed upon by and 
proved by the Secretary between the Secretary to the Govern- 
to the Department of ment of India in the Public Works 
Public Works and the Department for the time being and the 
Council of the said Society; and in case 
the said Secretary and Council shall be 
unable to agree with reference to any such plans or specifications, 
the point or points on which they shall so disagree shall be 
referred to the final decision of the Governor General of India in 
Council. Such building shall be completed, so far as to be in 
a condition to receive the collections mentioned in Section 11 of 
this Act, within five years from the date of the passing of this 
Act; and the Government of India shall keep the building in 
