Kolkata (also known as Calcutta) is currently the second-most populous megacity in India after Delhi. It has many placed to visit which are of interest to tourists.

Museums and libraries

Victoria Memorial Victoria Memorial was built in Kolkata to commemorate the Empress of India and Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria after her death in 1901, located at Queen's Way. The Victoria Memorial was modelled on the Taj Mahal and was commissioned in 1906 by Lord Curzon. Opened to the public in 1921, it was designed by the architects William Emerson and his protégé Vincent Esch at the extraordinary cost of 10.5 million rupees ($262,500), all of which was collected as voluntary donations, mostly from British and Indian nobility. The memorial holds paintings of the British royal family, miniature paintings of the Mughal School, oil paintings of the Company School (notably the uncle - nephew pair of Thomas Daniell and William Daniell), historical artefacts like the throne of the Nawab of Bengal, many lithographs and documents of historical interest, and various post-Raj artefacts significant in the history of Kolkata (added to the collection after independence). The memorial is set in extensive and beautiful lawns and is lit up at night. A laser audio-visual show is held on the lawns every evening. 'Nike', the Greek Goddess of victory, on the top of the museum is said to be haunted and has been prominently featured in many Kolkata stories and novels. It is regarded with pride in Kolkata and colloquially referred to as the "Victoria".Victoria Memorial . iloveindia.com

Indian Museum

The Indian Museum is the largest museum in Asia and the oldest in the Asia-Pacific region (est. 1814 at the location of the Asiatic Society). The Museum shifted to its present residence in 1875. Situated on Jawahar Lal Nehru Road, it houses a collection of Indian natural history and an Indian Art collection to rival the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum. Of specific note are the meteorite hall and dinosaur hall in the Natural History and Geology section, the numismatics section and the collections of Gandhara Art, Burmese woodwork, Mughal miniatures and Tibetan banner sections in the Indian Art section. The Anthropological Survey of India headquarters and the Government College of Art and Craft are housed in the same building. The Geological Survey of India headquarters moved from the museum to Bidhan Nagar recently. The Indian Museum has a library of excellent historical value, with a special focus on the Raj and Kolkata.

Marble Palace

The Marble Palace is a privately owned collection of eclectic sculptures, paintings and a small menagerie and aviary off Chittaranjan Avenue in North Kolkata. Built by Raja Rajendra Mullick in 1835, it houses two little-publicized Reubens and a Joshua Reynolds, not to mention over 50 varieties of marble which grace the interiors of this mansion. Since COVID-19 in India, this palace is strictly prohibited for outsiders and tourists.

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum on Gurusaday Dutta Road, was inaugurated in 1959 as the first popular science museum in Asia. Modelled on the Deutsches Museum, it has interactive popular science exhibits and a significant collection of historical industrial holdings in India. Its collection of old gramophones, sound recorders, telephones, steam engines, road rollers, and other industrial machinery of the period 1880–1950 is very significant. The museum sports a vintage model of the Rolls-Royce Phantom I make. It also actively organizes summer camps, awareness programs, and astronomy observations for school children.

Science City

Science City is a complex on the John Burdon Sanderson Haldane Avenue featuring a lot of interactive science and live bioscience exhibits, as well as having Kolkata's first OMNIMAX theatre.

Rabindra Bharati Museum

The Rabindra Bharati Museum is the ancestral home of the Tagore family and was converted into a museum in 1961, located at Dwarka Nath Tagore Lane near Rabindra Sarani. The brick mansions were the cultural hub of Kolkata for close to a century and were a major force in the women's liberation movement. It hosted the first Brahmo wedding and was an important center of the Independence movement. The museum has three large galleries - one of the life and works of Rabindranath, a second gallery about his close relatives such as father Debendranath Tagore, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore etc. and a third gallery on the Bengal Renaissance in general.

Gurusaday Museum

Gurusaday Museum, on Diamond Harbour Road, is the outcome of a lifetime collection of traditional Bengal folk arts in undivided Bengal by Sir Gurusaday Dutt. On his death in 1941, the collection was handed over to the Bratachari Society founded by Sir Gurusaday Dutt to preserve and protect Bengal folk arts. It was opened as a museum to the public with the help of the Government of India in 1963. It contains, among other fine handicrafts, terracotta panels, kantha or folk quilt work, and patas (or hand painted scrolls of the late 1900s), notably of the Kalighat School. The Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, on College Street, is the other museum specializing in Bengal folk arts, but with significant archaeological holdings from sites in West Bengal and Bihar like Chandraketugarh and Tamluk. The first university owned museum in India, run by the University of Calcutta and is named after its famous vice chancellor Sir Asutosh Mukherjee.

Nehru Children's Museum Nehru Children's Museum is named after Jawaharlal Nehru, whose love for children was well known. It is located at Jawahar Lal Nehru Road. In order to pay homage to Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, National Cultural Association established the Museum in 1972 in Panditji's name on his birthday. The museum has a collection of dolls and toys from across the globe and has a doll - based retelling of the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Established in 1972 close to the Victoria Memorial, and commonly referred to as "Nehru Children's Museum"; this museum is aging awkwardly fast. There are dolls which are not only bounded to India, but also of different states, countries, religion like the dolls of Bangladesh, Japan, China, Rhodesia, Korea, Indonesia. Other than these, there are dolls which are dressed according to the places like Delhi, Assam, West Bengal, Chennai, Maharashtra, Andaman, Mexico, Portuguese and many more. There is even a separate cabin displaying various forms and styles of Ganesh.

Sabarna Sangrahashala Sabarna Sangrahashala located at Baro Bari, Barisha, is the only family museum of Kolkata open to public. It was established in 2005 by the Sabarna Roy Choudhury Paribar Parishad and is a tourist destination specially for those who want to know more about the history of Kolkata. It is also a research institute in the making. The museum possesses some of the rarest Kabulatipatras, documents and articles of historical importance besides several artifacts dating back to the 17th century. The museum is dedicated to students for creating an awareness of history, heritage, and culture of the land. Every year in the month of February, the museum organizes the International History and Heritage Exhibition which is the only one of its kind in Eastern India.

National Library of India

National Library of India located in Alipore is India's leading public library. It was inaugurated in 1836 by the Governor General Lord Metcalfe by transferring 4675 books from the College of Fort William. Public donations were the main source of books for the library, and by donations of Rupees 300 from proprietors. Dwarakanath Tagore was the first proprietor of the library. The library was initially only partially public, as poor students could use the library for a limited period of time. The Imperial Library was founded in 1891 by merging several libraries like those of the East India College and East India Board. Governor General Lord Curzon initiated the merger of these two libraries into a single Imperial Library in 1903 at the Metcalfe Hall. The goal of the library was to collect every book written about India at any time. The Assistant Librarian of the British Museum John Macfarlane was the first librarian and was succeeded by the first Indian librarian Harinath De. The library was moved to its present quarters in Belvedere Estate, Alipore and renamed the National Library. It is a fully public library which co-ordinates the activities of all other Indian public libraries. True to its goal, any book published in India today has to send one copy to the National library in the spirit of the Library of Congress, United States.

Birla Planetarium

Birla Planetarium in Kolkata runs many shows on educational and entertainment purposes about astronomy, astrophysics, space science, history of astronomy and mythology regarding stars and planets. It is situated on Jawahar Lal Nehru Road near several notable places like Indian Museum, Victoria Memorial, Maidan, and St. Paul's Cathedral. It was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, on 2 July 1963. Projection on spherical ceiling accompanied by live audio (Bengali, English, and Hindi) is the major attraction of the Birla Planetarium. It also has an electronics laboratory, astronomy gallery, and an astronomical observatory equipped with a Celestron C-14 Telescope.

Other museums and libraries

Kolkata also has other small museums like the Rail Museum, Tram Museum, Naval Aircraft Museum, Fanatic Sports Museum, Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art, Netaji Bhawan, Swami Vivekananda Museum, State Archaeological Museum, Academy of Fine Arts, The Asiatic Society, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Museum, Mother's Wax Museum and the Police Museum.

The other popular Kolkata libraries include the General Library of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture located at Gol Park, maintained by the Ramakrishna Mission, Kolkata. The collection of this library was initially confined to a few books and journals, stacked in one or two book-cases. Dr. Barid Baran Mukherjee gifted over 33,000 volumes to the library in 1941.

Other historically significant libraries are Calcutta Club library, Asiatic Society, Indian Museum, Presidency University, Scottish Church College and St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.

Heritage administrative offices

Calcutta High Court

Calcutta High Court – It is the oldest High Court in India. It was established as the High Court of Judicature at Fort William on 1 July 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court building is an exact replica of the Stand Haus in Ypres, Belgium. It is recorded that when the original Stand Haus burnt down, a blueprint of Granville's Calcutta High Court had to be consulted before rebuilding it. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 63. Despite, the name of the city was officially changed from Calcutta to Kolkata in 2001, the old name is retained by the court as it is an institution.

Bankshall Court Bankshall Court – It is the present City Sessions Court of Kolkata. Two of its buildings are old heritage.

Raj Bhavan