Calcuttaweb - Places to visit in Calcutta

Established in 1933. Contains impressive collection of Indian art. Majority of the pieces have been donated by Lady Ranu Mukherjee from her personal collection. The collection includes rare paintings of Rabindranath Tagore, Jamini Roy, contemporary Indian art, mediaeval Bengal and Indian textiles, sculptures, miniature paintings, manuscripts. There is a room dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore which displays some of his personal belongings. Group theatres, dance programs, cultural shows are arranged in the auditorium around the year.
Timings:-
Art Galleries: Daily open 3-8 pm except national holidays.
Museum: Daily 12-7 pm except Monday. Entry Rs.5
Website: academyoffinearts.tripod.com
Location : 2, Cathedral Road, Kolkata 700071.
Phone: 22234302

Agri-Horticultural Garden is situated in Alipore and was founded by William Carey in 1820. This garden has a significant collection of botanical varieties with facilities for gardeners and plant/flower lovers. The pleasant and quiet garden is ideal for a walk. There is state-of-the-art greenhouse in the garden which was donated by the royal family of Darbhanga. Picnic not allowed.
Timings: Garden 7am - 10am & 2pm - 6pm
Location: Alipore. The garden is adjacent to the Zoological Garden.
Phone: 24791713

Designed by Armenian architects (Aga Nazar and Katchik Arfiel) in the early 18th century is the oldest extant church in Kolkata today. The Armenians settled in the city in 17th century and used to be vibrant community. The church was originally designed as a wood structure, which was later replaced by a brick and mortar building. The interior is decorated with marbel and the overhead gallery contains mural tablets. Three oil paintings by artist A.E. Harris can be found in the altar.
Location: 1, Armenian Street (off Brabourne Road).
Phone:

Located at the intersection of Park Street and Chowranghee, Asiatic Society was formed in 1784 by Sir William Jones and a group of Europeans with Warren Hastings as it's first patron. The library inside has approximately 149,000 volumes inclusive of 8,000 rare Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian and Hindi manuscripts. It is also rich with archaeological relics, geological and ethnological specimens. The rooms of the society contain valuable work of art, including original paintings by Reubens, Guiles, Reynolds and others. The library also has an interesting collection of manuscripts, coins, inscriptions and engravings. The Ashokan rock edict is a unique item here.
Web Site: www.asiaticsocietycal.com
Location: The Asiatic Society, 1, Park Street, Kolkata 700016. Intersection of Park Street and Chowringhee.
Timing: Mon-Fri 10:30am - 6pm
Phone:

Located at Centenary building of University of Calcutta. In 1937 the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art was opened in the Western Hall of the then Senate House. This museum has rare and valuable collections including Bengal patachitra paintings, katha shilpo art, folk art, terracotta, ivory art etc.
Web Site: www.caluniv.ac.in
Location: University of Calcutta. Centenary Building. College Street.
Timing: Mon-Fri 11:30am - 4:30pm

This magnificient temple located on the bank of river Ganges is the head quarter of Ramakrishna Mission. It was conceptualized by Swami Vivekananda, the illustrius disciple of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. The construction took four years and was completed on 1899. The temple building is one of the finest specimen of temple architecture in India. The display includes Swami Vivekananda's room, meditation bed, belongings etc. From the temple, one can have a panaromic view of the holy river Ganges.
Website: www.belurmath.org
Timing: 8am - 11:30am & 4pm - 7:30pm
Location: PO Belur Math, Dist Howrah 711202
Phone: 2654 1144/1180/5391/8494/9581/9681

Inaugurated in 1963, Birla Planetarium was the first of it's kind in India. The Planetarium owns an astronomical observatory equipped with a Celestron C-14 Telescope. The central dome has a diameter of 27 meter. The building is modeled after the Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi. The central hall can accommodate 500 people which hosts daily shows in English, Hindi and Bengali.
Website: education.vsnl.com/planetarium
Location: 96 J.L. Nehru Road (close to Victoria Memorial, St. Paul's Cathedral and Maidan)
Timings: 12-7pm (closed Monday) Entrance fee Rs.15
Phone: 22236610

The largest museum in the country was constructed in 1878. Prior to that the museum was located at Asiatic Society building. The museum has now over sixty galleries of art, archaeology, anthropology, geology, zoology and botany sections, spreading over ten thousand square feet area
Website: www.indianmuseumkolkata.org
Timings: Tue-Sun 10am - 5pm (Monday closed)
Entrance fee Rs.10 (Rs.150 for foreigner)
Phone: 22861699

Local landlord Rajendra Mullick built this palace in 1855 using Italian marble.The palace has an interior courtyard, complete with a throne room. The building has paintings of Rubens, Reynolds.
Location: 46 Muktaram Basu Street (off Chittaranjan Avenue)
Entrance Fee: FREE but you must obtain a permit from West Bengal Tourism Office.
Timings: 10am-04pm (except Monday and Thursday)
Phone: 22825813

Among other things, this children's museum has displays of scenes from epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata, made with clay models. The museum has a doll house with a collection of dolls from 88 countries.
Website: www.nehrumuseum.org
Location: 94/1, Chowringhee Road (intersection of J L Nehru Road and AJC Bose Road)
Entrance Fee:
Timings: 12am-06pm (except Monday, call for exact timings)
Phone: 22231551

Victorial Memorial was built between 1906 and 1921 in the memory of Queen Victoria. It's foundation stone was laid by Prince of Wales(George V) on January 4th, 1906, and was inaugurated by Prince of Wales(King Edward VIII) on 28 December 1921. This majestic while marble palace is located in southern part of the Maidan. The area comprises of 64 acres of land with gardens, pool and walk trails. The building covers 338 feet by 228 feet of land and the highest point is about 184 feet above the ground with a black bronze angel holding a bugle in her hand. The statue is about five meters tall, weighs 3,500 kg and rotates when the wind speed is high enough. Currently the memorial building serves as a meuseum. The building has galleries with paintings, portraits of emminent personalities, documents witnessing the city's history during the British period.
Website: http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org
Timings: 5:30am - 7:00pm. The meuseum = 10:00am - 7:00pm
Tickets: Rs.4 per person for entering into the premises. For the museum or inside the building Rs.10 per person.
Phone: 22231890