MUSEUMS

PROFILE

ADDRESS

Established in 1909. Collections include East India Company’s administrative records from 1770 to 1858, some Persian and Bengali records from 1624. Dutch records relating to Chinsurah from 1702 to 1827, some Danish records on Serampore, records of the Secretariat Departments and records of the Crown period 1858-1947 and indices. Records from 1901 onwards are kept in State Archival Repository at the Writers’ Buildings, Kolkata – 700001.

Kolkata – 700 007.

Established in 1903 by an Act of the then Governor-General-in-Council. Collections include items relating to Indian history from the 17^th to the 20^th century such as relics, documents, personal effects. Treaties, Sanads and Firmans, statues, portraits, massive oil paintings of noted artists, engravings representing famous and historical personages of the 18^th and 19^th centuries, paintings and engravings of Indian scenes, pictures of Old Kolkata, Mughal and Rajasthani miniature paintings, some Persian manuscripts including Ain-I-Akbari by Abul Fazal, Akbarnama, a manuscript history of Alamgir. Persian translation of Nala-Damayanti by Abul Fazal, and also arms and armours of the period,. Recently has been added a gallery of national leaders and important docuements relating to freedom movement, and pertaining to Nandakumar, Vidyasagar, Michael Madhusudan and others. The impressive domed structure in white marble set up in a sylvan backfround houses source-materials on the life and culture of Indian people. Valuable coloured reproductions including scenes of old Kolkata by famous artists, picture-cards, guide books and research bulletins are available for sale.

Kolkata – 700 016.

Established in 1875, one of the largest in the country; well stocked with many varieties of popular important and exotic fauna collected from India and overseas. Special enclosures for tigers and bears in natural habitat, a rich reptile house and a section for birds. Specialised sections dealing with veterinary problems offers facilities for study of animal behaviour and acclimatization; undertakes research work regarding parasites and diseases of animals and birds.

Kolkata – 700 027.

Established in 1961. Situated in rural environments, the Museum displays objects of art, archaeology and folk crafts of Bengal, including early and mediaeval terracottas, coins, stones, sculptures and over one hundred valuable Sanskrit and Bengali manuscripts. Maintains a card-index of mediaeval temples of Bengal and of local historical sites.

Bagnan,

District – Howrah

Established in 1818 by Rev. William Carey and his associate. J. Marshman and W. Ward. Has a good collection of manuscripts and examples of early printing in India and abroad in various Indian and Asian scripts and languages, also includes manuscript copies of Hindu scriptures like the Vedas and the Upanishads, made under the behest of William Carey. Also contains the pulpit, chairs and tables used by Carey. The library has a unique collection of early printed books in Indian and other Asian languages printed at Serampore.

Serampore,

Disctrict – Hooghly.

Set up by the Botanical Survey of India under the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. Collects plant materials, dried plants and other things; carries out researches in plant morphology, anatomy, palynogogy; undertakes exchange of speciments; prepare flora and monographs; conserves and distributes species and varieties. Houses approximately two and half million specimens and provides research facilities to Indian and foreign scholars. Has some original drawings of Indian plants by Indian artists. Situated within the Indian Botanic Garden, Shibpur.

Shibpur,

Howrah.

Established in 1961. Has a large collection of photographs portraying Gandhiji’s life, particularly his peache mission to Noakhali; also Photostat of letters to Gandhiji from different countries, letters written by him, a large number of press cuttings and bulleting and taperecordings of reminiscences of Mahatmaji. Has a good library of Gandhian literature.

Barrackpur,

District – 24 Parganas.

Collected since 1933 by Gurusaday Datta, the Museum in its present site came up in 1961. Situated within a garden it has a rich collection of folk art and crafts of Bengal including paintings, embroidered quilts, dolls and toys, wood crafts, temple terracotas and other clay objects, stone sculptures, basketry and work in shoal-pith, ritual potteries and figurines of great variety.

Thakurpukur,

P.O. Joka,

District : 24 Parganas

Established in 1787. Spread over an area of 273 acres on the West bank of Hooghly river, the Garden is perhaps the largest of its kind in Aisa: contains 12,000 living perennial plants and over two and half million driedout plant specimens in the herbarium, collected from all over the world. The Garden, apart from pioneering the introduction of plants like tea, cinchona and mahogany, has also largely helped in the utilization of jute, improvement of cotton, cultivation of tobacco, clax, hemp. Indian rubber, coffee, vanilla and other economic products. Also has introduced many exotic garden plants in India. Specialities – the Palm House, the Orchid House, the Fernery,the cacti and succulents, the pine and bamboo collection, the giant water lily of Amazon and the famed Great Banyan Tree. Offers library service, garden service, plant introduction and experimental gardens and technical information on palynology, plant physiology and plant bio-chemistry.

Shibpur,

District – Howrah.

Established under the Treaty of Cession of Chandernagor, 1952 as a cultural centre with a museum, art gallery, library and auditorium, the Institute today is an important Indo-French cultural link. The Museum building itself is of historical importance with relics of French in India along with valuable documents and relics of local freedom-fighters, bibliographical materials, photographs, paintings, a few terracotta and other antiquities and folk art objects.

Chandannagar,

District – Hooghly.

Established in 1954. Situated in a section of the ancestral house of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the pioneer novelist of Bengali literature. Has a collection of original manuscripts, nearly one hundred and fifty letters written by the author, photographs and documents related to him, a large number of books and also many personal effects of the author.

Naihati,

District – 24 Parganas.

Established in 1951. Named after a well known scholar of Bengal and run under the auspices of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Vishnupur Branch. Has a varied collection of prehistoric implements, large assemblage of documents and manuscripts, stone and terracotta sculptures, epigraphs, bronzes, early and mediaeval Indian coins, scroll paintings and painted manuscript-covers of Bankura and over four thousand mediaeval manuscripts in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Bengali.

District – Bankura

Established in 1922. Growing up through the gifts made by Rabindra Nath Tagore, Rathindra Nath Tagore, Abanindra Nath Tagore, Nandalal Bose and Pratima Devi, the collections include paintings and sketches of Bengal School, folk aret objects, terracottas and stone sculptures, wooden sculptures and lacquer-work of Siam and Cambodia, a rare tapestry, masks and musical instruments from China and some murals. The Textile Section has batiks from Java, patolas from Patan, glass and bead-work from Rajasthan, embroideries from Sind, Kathiawar, Kashmir; brass and bronze collections include figurines, lamps, cooking utensils and decorative and ornamental works.

Santiniketan,

District – Birbhum.

Established in 1942. Preserves personal collections of Tagore as well as gifts made to him from India and abroad. The Museum consists of a library section containing manuscripts of Rabindranath, letters to and from Rabindranath, books on and by Rabindranath and a general section comprising paintings, photographs, cine-films and voice-records of the poet.

Santiniketan,

District – Birbhum

Established in 1965. Collections include old manuscripts and documents, objects of archaeology, folk arts and crafts.

Burdwan.

Museum of forestry equipment and forest products of the State, run by the Government of West Bengal.

District – Darjeeling

Established in 1965. Collections include early stone & bronze sculptures, manuscripts, a few paintings from O.C. Ganguly’s collections, object of folk arts and crafts.

Siliguri,

District – Darjeeling.

Established in 1878. Run by the Forest Department, Government of West Bengal. Specialises in growing different types of flora belonging to the Eastern Himalayan Region: also preserves fome species of flora from Western Himalayas and also some temperate regions of he world.

District – Darjeeling

Established in 1955. Opened in 1968 as the Everest Museum; housed in a nicely constructed building; has a good collection of mountaineering equipment, topographical models of the Sikkim-Himalayas showing the routes of different Everest expeditions since 1921, specimens of high altitude fauna and some samples of minerals and rocks. Includes relics and photographs relating to mountaineering expeditions.

District – Darjeeling.

Established in 1958. Preserves high-altitude animals and birds under conditions stimulating freedom and thereby enabling systematic study and research on the typical specimens of Himalayan fauna in particular and animals of the colder region of the world in general. This park is the only one of its kind in India. Of special interest are the collections of Usuri tigers. Llama, Terai leopard and Himalayan birds.

District – Darjeeling.

Established in 1903 in a small building in the Lloyd Botanical Garden. Has a good and representative collection of butterflies, birds, bird-eggs, reptiles and amphibia, fish, insects and other invertebrates including herbarium specimens, bulk of which were collected from Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Sikkim areas.

District – Darjeeling.

Houses a small collection of textile materials and machines.

District – Hooghly

Rich in collection of late mediaeval temple terracottas, coins, wooden sculptures, folk paintings and other attractive objects locally available.

District – Hooghly.

District – Malda.

Important collection of prehistoric and protohistoric implements, seals, sealings, manuscripts, coins and terracottas from ancient sites of Tamralipta and adjoining areas.

District – Midnapore.

Collections include sculptures, coins and copper-plates

Collections include arms and armour of the late Mughal era particularly related to Bengal, valuable documents and objects of art and crafts, paintings and manuscripts.

District – Murshidabad.

Mainly archaeological collections consisting of sculptures

District – Murshidabad.

Collections consist of early Jaina & Hindu sculptures and architectural fragments from Purulia and adjoining areas. Also include manuscripts and ornaments, weapons and musical instruments of local tribals.

Purulia,

District – Purulia.

P.O. Balurghat,

District – West Dinajpur.