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Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This is a stately mansion. Once home of the British Viceroys, the Belvedere House is now the National Library. The oldest library in India with a huge collection, including some rarities. It houses over a million books and is the biggest in India. The Belvedere House also houses the Museum of Word, offering an interactive insight on language.
The National Library of India is a library located in the Belvedere Estate, Alipore, Kolkata, India. The National Library was moved there in 1953 into the estate where the former British Viceroys resided. It is India's largest library by volume and public record. The National Library is under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The library is designated to collect, disseminate and preserve printed material produced within India. With a collection in excess of 2.5 million books and records, it is the largest in the country.
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আলিপুর চিড়িয়াখানা Ālipur Chiṛiyākhānā
One of the most famous zoological gardens in Eastern India. It was once notorious for its cross-breeding experiments between lions and tigers to produce strains like tigons, ligers and litigons. It was home to Advaita, the longest-lived animal in the world, who died in March 2006. The other success story of the zoo was a live birth of the rare Sumatran rhinoceros in 1889. The lakes within are a favourite retreat for migratory Siberian birds.
Founded by William Carey in 1820, it is a lush environ owned and managed by the Agri Horticultural Society of India. The venue for exotic plant and flower exhibitions, it is spread over 21 acres comprising main lawns and informal gardens and children park, and has many rare and tropical plants.
ধনধান্য Dhonodhānyo
An auditorium shaped like a humongous conch-shell (শাঁখ shānkh), an example of mimetic or novelty architecture in India. Inaugurated on April 2023, the building has 6 floors containing guest house, restaurant, cafeteria, VIP lounge, media lounge and a convention centre. It hosts various cultural programmes and is also a venue for national and international trade fairs.
formerly Alipore Central Jail
A museum dedicated to the Indian independence movement, with a special focus on Bengal. It was a prison during the British rule, and was used to arrest many freedom activists. The museum contains patriotic lyrics of Kazi Nazrul Islam on the wall, along with the individual cells of Jawaharlal Nehru, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sri Aurobindo and others. There are exhibits within some of these cells that replicate the daily lives of the prisoners. The museum also has a somber site of the gallows where many activists were hanged. It also organises a sound and light show in the evenings in Bengali and Hindi.