Building & Centre of Kolkata

The Court Rooms

Portraits and busts of legal luminaries adorn the courtrooms and the corridors and the Bar Library is a treasury for the legal tomes. Browsing is permitted with the librarian's permission. The Judges Library contains interesting legal documents.

Visitors are allowed inside the court premises.

Timings

From 2 pm to 8 pm, except Mondays

Timings

The museum is open daily except Monday from 10 am to 5 pm.

Location

Situated on J L Nehru Road.

The Structure and Architecture

The oldest institution of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, the Museum was originally established on 2nd February 1814, at the Asiatic Society. Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, a botanist, was the founder-curator. The palatial building housing the Indian Museum follows the Italian style of architecture, which was transferred to the present building in 1878 with just two galleries. At present, the Museum has over 60 galleries for the Art, Archaeology, Anthropology, Geology, and Zoology and Botany sections. It is spread out over an area of 930 sq. m. A multipurpose and multidisciplinary institution of national importance, the museum is the largest repository of artefacts in India.

It is particularly famous for its zoological and geological collections. The sections dealing with fossil and taxidermy are also notable. Star attractions are a 4,000 year-old mummy and an enormous dinosaur skeleton. Also notable among the collection are 50,000 antique coins, precious stones and 414 meteors. Priceless items such as Shahjahan's emerald goblet and an urn containing Buddha's ashes add variety. The Museum Directorate has seven co-ordinating service units: Preservation, Publication, Photography, Presentation, Modelling, Education and Library. Photography is not allowed without prior written permission from the authorities.

Collections

There are a number of unique fossil skeletons of prehistoric animals, among them giant crocodiles and an amazingly big tortoise. The art collection has many fine pieces from Orissan and other temples, and superb examples of Buddhist Gandharan art.

History

Originally it was the summerhouse of Prince Azim-us-Shan, grandson of Aurangzeb, and Viceroy of Bengal and Bihar, which was subsequently acquired by Warren Hastings and sold to Major Tulley in 1778. In 1854, it became the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal.

Lord Curzon officially inaugurated the Imperial Library on 30th January 1903, at the Metcalfe Hall. At present, the library contains almost 2 million books and ½ million documents. The reading room - a huge hall with galleries - attracts almost a thousand readers every day. The newspaper and magazines division of the National Library is located at Esplanade. The northern entrance or gateway of the National Library lies on Belvedierre Road – a little south of the famous Alipore Zoo. There is a statuette of a lion atop the main entrance or gateway crossing the gate. A road of gravels leads one inside. Here are two cannons, once used by the East India Company.

After the Battle of Plassey, Vanceytart got charge of this Bhawan. He was an Italian who named this mammoth building 'Belvedierre'. The word connotes 'the queen of beauty'. Lady Hastings was also the owner of this house for a short while. She sold it to Major Tulley in 1780. However, this building was put to auction after the demise of Major Tulley in 1802. In 1850, the Govt. took charge of this palatial house. Some believe that Nawab Meer Zaffar had once stayed in Belvedierre Bhawan.

In 1923, the Library was shifted to 6, Esplanade East from Metcalfe Hall. The erstwhile department for old papers still lies in this building. Again in 1953, the Library was reshifted to Belvedierre Bhawan. It was then named as The National Library or Jatiya Granthagar. After many discussions, finally in 1953, its doors were opened for public use.

Do You Know?

The number of reader-members in this library at present is a whopping 18 thousand. The collection comprises about 20,00,000 books and 5,00,000 manuscripts. Its gigantic campus encompasses 130 acres of land.

At present, the National Library is the 2nd largest public library in Asia for which several notable persons have donated their invaluable collections at different times. Sadar – Ud-ddin, the Zaminder of Buhor, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, Surendra Nath Sen etc. are some famous donors. These have added to the value and content of books in this prestigious institution.

Location

This small museum is conveniently situated at 94/1 Chowringhee Rd.

History

This was founded in 1975 and inaugurated by Siddharta Sankar Roy, former Chief Minister of West Bengal, for indoor games and sports like Table Tennis, Basket Ball, Volley Ball, Badminton etc. Cultural Functions and different programmes are also held here. Total capacity of the Stadium is almost 1,20,000.

Location

It is situated on the western side of the Victoria Memorial.

Time Period

The horse race starts in the month of July and continues till September. It starts again in November and concludes in March. The race generally held’s on Saturdays, however, it is also held on important holidays and some special occasions.

Features Of The Stadium

It is elliptical in shape. The roof is made of strong tubes and aluminum sheets. There are two electronic score boards and control rooms. The lighting is uniformly distributed to facilitate nocturnal sports along with special arrangements for Television broadcasting.