Kolkata (Calcutta)
Several bright, ground-floor gallery rooms in this 1933 building feature changing exhibitions by local artists. It's a good place to check out young-and…
Must-see attractions in Kolkata (Calcutta)
Kolkata (Calcutta)
The spectacular Maghen David Synagogue looks very much like a large sturdy church with its red-and-yellow brickwork, spired tower and trefoiled windows…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This brilliantly antiquated gunmakers' shop has operated since 1948 and while it now sells mostly imported sporting rifles, the old teak cabinets display…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Over 1600 ragged old graves, predominantly colonial-era Scottish, lie in this gated graveyard whose jungle-like overgrowth has been cut back in recent…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Accessed from the Belur Math car park, this beautifully presented dual-level museum charts Ramakrishna’s life and the travels of his great disciple Swami…
Birla Industrial & Technological Museum
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This excellent museum is a hands-on opportunity to press buttons and yank at levers to understand – among numerous other things – how electricity conducts…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Foremost among BBD Bagh's grand colonial structures are the 1780 Writers’ Buildings, a twin-block office complex whose glorious south facade looks…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Peep through the crack between the often-locked doors of this distinctive 1924 two-storey building to spy a meditative Buddha statue glowing in the half…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Located directly south of the entrance to the zoo is the (private) access road to the National Library, which houses India’s biggest archival collection…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Some 500m south of Howrah train station, the open-air Railway Museum has a two-storey station model, several 19th-century steam locomotives and a toy…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
There's a fascinating group of idol-makers' workshops where Kalighat Rd curves north from Hazra Rd. Figurines sculpted here are much smaller than those in…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This bathing ghat has a great sunset view of Howrah Bridge. Access from Strand Rd is along the same footbridge that leads to the flower market. It gets…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Experimenter is a relatively small contemporary art gallery, but its avant-garde exhibitions are about as cutting edge as anything you'll find in Kolkata…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Crowned by a fine Wren-style spire, St Andrews was built in 1815. It still holds distinctive Scottish-Presbyterian services and also has responsibility…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Opened in 1842, this understated Catholic church has a Doric-columned portico topped by a short octagonal spire. It was here that the body of Mother (St)…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Within the Ramakrishna Mission compound on the Hooghly riverbank, several small shrines include the Sri Sarada Devi Temple, entombing the mystic's wife.
Kolkata (Calcutta)
The 1905 former Chartered Bank Building is a five-storey red-and-white block with side turrets, domes and a vaguely Moorish touch to the design. Higher…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Revolutionary nationalist-turned-guru Sri Aurobindo – who later went on to establish the famous ashram at Auroville near Pondicherry – was born in…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Commonly called the Portuguese Church, this imposing 1797 cathedral was founded by Portuguese merchants after they settled in Kolkata. The graceful ash…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
For 34 years after a decisive election victory in 1977, West Bengal was a stronghold for the Marxist Communist Party of India – CPI (M). Although the…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Home to the Reserve Bank of India until 1937, the stabilised ruins of the once-magnificent Currency Building now houses a small exhibition about the…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This professionally presented little museum brings alive the history of Indian banking using paintings, models, seals, weapons and archival materials. A…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This slender white monolith, standing atop an octagonal base adorned with marble plaques, commemorates those British officials who died in the siege of…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
The best known of a closely grouped trio of Jain temples, this 1867 complex is a dazzling if unrefined pastiche of colourful mosaics, spires, columns and…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
More a private gallery than a museum, this smallish place has changing exhibitions that mostly feature excellent 21st-century works by Bengali artists, as…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Overlooking the putrid Tolly's Nullah stream, this burning ghat hosts an impressive cluster of monuments to local celebrities who have been cremated here…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This 1825 structure is one of Kolkata's smaller synagogues, and is almost hidden behind a plethora of market stalls selling trinkets and bindis. To enter,…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Majestically bearded and dressed in warrior costume yet sitting merrily cross-legged, this delightful statue gives Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh of…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
In bird-filled gardens 250m west of Belgachia metro stands the Digambar Jain Mandir, with a tall lighthouse-style tower encasing a meditating statuette…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This is Kolkata's oldest Chinese temple, an 1820s relic from the colonial period when thousands of Chinese migrants flocked to Kolkata to work on the…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Mother (St) Teresa’s famous (if surprisingly small) home for the dying was originally based out of this Kalighat pilgrim hostel. Its roof corners are…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
The red-brick Standard Life Building has carved nymphs and wonderful wrought-iron balconies at the rear. Since 2014, work has begun at removing decades of…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
New Market has a grand colonial clocktower, but by day it's a nest of handicraft touts. Come before 8am, while the touts are sleeping, to calmly…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This statue of India's first (and so far, only) female prime minister is one of many statues located around the Maidan that were set up to occupy plinths …
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Designed with a slightly Spanish flourish, this huge colonial-era building has graceful window arches and overhangs picked out in red and the odd wooden…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
This perfume-maker's shop conjures up images of the Raj era. It's an atmospheric place, although the perfumes can be of the strong concentrated variety…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Directly south of the zoo's entrance, the access road to the National Library loops around the very regal Curzon Mansion, once the colonial viceroy's…
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Once a grand Jewish school building, this post office offers some curious photo ops, given its location in the heart of a busy market area.
Kolkata (Calcutta)
Hidden almost invisibly behind BBD Bagh, this Protestant church is Kolkata's second-oldest place of Christian worship, dating to 1770.
Kolkata (Calcutta)
In the northeastern corner of the Maidan, this chunky cenotaph formed of brown-stone blocks commemorates Calcuttans who fell in WWI.
