Some of the best attractions in Kolkata

[Calcutta].

Calcutta name known during British Rule & legacy for

centuries and subsequently changed to Kolkata is having

number of heritage buildings, undisputed sceneries and

facilities in the world. ( You may see Video on Kolkata aerial

view – Kolkata city II 2018).

You are most welcome to tour Kolkata’s most famous

landmarks and check out Mother Teresa’s Mission &

Mother House. You may admire the impressive

architecture of iconic structures like the Howrah Bridge,

Victoria Memorial, Eden Gardens, Imperial Museum, 2nd

Hoogly Bridge, Howrah Railway Station, Birla Planetarium,

Technology & Industrial Museum, Science Museums, world

famous Botanic Garden, underground Metro Railway, hand

pulled rickshaws, tram cars, and many 0ther beautiful

knowledge based Institutions and sceneries.

Also experience some of the local religious places with a

stop at the Bundal Church, Jain Temple, Magen David

Synagogue, Kali Temple & also Durga, Kali and other Pujas

and festivals. You may then tour the University of Calcutta

Ravindra Sadan and other places for a bit of academic

flavor.

If possible, you may enjoy private tour with an expert guide

to see unparallel world class facilities in order to

experience the beauty of this mega city.

1. Howrah Bridge

➢ without any support over Hooghly River.

➢ One of the old and rare cantilever bridges in

the world.

Howrah Bridge is a bridge with a suspended span

over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. It

weathers the storms of the Bay of Bengal region,

carrying a daily traffic of approximately 100,000

vehicles and possibly more than 150,000 pedestrians,

easily making it the most busiest cantilever bridge in

the World.

Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally

named the New Howrah Bridge, but in 1965 it was

renamed Rabindra Setu after the great Bengali poet

Rabindranath Tagore, who was the first Indian and

Asian Nobel laureate. It is still popularly known as

the Howrah Bridge.

2. Second Hooghly bridge

Vidyasagar Setu (Bidyasagôr Setu), also known as the Second Hooghly Bridge (Dwitiyô Hugli Setu), is a toll bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India, linking the cities of Kolkata

(previously known as Calcutta) and Howrah.

With a total length of 823 metres (2,700 ft), Vidyasagar Setu is the longest cable–stayed bridge in India. It was the second bridge to be built across the Hooghly River; the first, the Howrah Bridge (also known as Rabindra Setu) 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) to the north, was completed in 1943. Named after the

educationist reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, it cost ₹3.88 billion to build.

3. Victorial Memorial Monument in Kolkata

. The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building in Kolkata, which

was built between 1906 and 1921 by Architect, William Emerson. It

is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria (1819–1901) and is

now a museum and tourist destination under the auspices of the

Ministry of Culture. The memorial lies on the Maidan (grounds) by

the bank of the Hooghly River, near Jawaharlal Nehru Road (better

known as Chowringhee Road).

Victoria Mememorial > Kolkata

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4. Speciality of Kolkata > Hand pulled

Rickshaw.

A hand pulled rickshaw (or ricksha) is a mode of

human-powered transport by which a runner draws

a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two people.

These rickshaws are popular as it is a convenient

means of travel, able to traverse winding, narrow

city streets. During monsoon season, passengers

might be carried out of the carriage, above the

flooded streets, to the door of their arrival. They

offer door-to-door travel, unlike scheduled public

bus and tram service.

In recent times the use of human-powered rickshaws

has been discouraged or outlawed in many countries

due to concern for the welfare of rickshaw workers.

Pulled rickshaws have been replaced mainly by cycle

rickshaw and auto rickshaws. But in Kolkata city you

will see such hand pulled rickshaws by man.

ELECTRIC THREE WHEELER RIKSHAWS

An electric-vehicle revolution is gaining ground in India, and

it has nothing to do with cars.

The country now is home to about 1.5 million battery-

powered, three-wheeled rickshaws - a fleet bigger than the

total number of electric passenger cars sold in many countries.

The drivers of the ubiquitous three-wheelers weaving through

crowded, smoggy streets discovered that e-rickshaws are

quieter, faster, cleaner and cheaper to maintain than a

traditional auto rickshaw. They a re less strenuous than cycle

rickshaws, which require all-day peddling.

5. TRAM CAR

A tram (also tramcar; and in North America streetcar, trolley

or trolley car) is a rail vehicle which runs on tramway tracks

along public urban streets, and also sometimes on a

segregated right of way. The lines or networks operated by

tramcars are called tramways. This facility is available only in

very few countries.

5. HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA– a heritable building.

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in

India established by Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, in

1862. The building's design is based on the Cloth Hall,

Ypres, in Belgium. Despite the name of the city having

officially changed to Kolkata in 2001, the Court, as a

renowned institution retained the old name of Calcutta.

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7. IMPERIAL MUSEUM AT

CALCUTTA

The Indian Museum in Kolkata, also referred

to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in

British India era, is the largest and oldest

museum in India, established in 1814, by

founder curator, Nathaniel Wallich, a Danish

botanist. It is also one of oldest and biggest

museums in the world.

It has unlimited rare collections of antiques,

armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons,

mummies, and Mughal paintings, many rare

and unique specimens, both Indian and trans-

Indian.

8. EDEN GARDENS, CRICKET STADIUM

Eden Gardens is one of the best cricket grounds in the

world. Established in 1864, the stadium currently has a

capacity of 68,000 and is currently the largest cricket

stadium in India by capacity.

It is widely acknowledged to be one of the most iconic

cricket stadiums in the world. Eden Gardens became the

second stadium to host a World Cup final. Through

2017, it has hosted the highest number of International

matches in India. Eden Gardens has also occasionally

been used for Association football matches.

1.

2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eden_Gardens_under_floodlights_during_a_match.jpg

9. BIRLA PLANETARIUM – one of the oldest and

biggest in the world.

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The largest and the oldest planetarium in Asia, the Birla Planetarium is one of the most popular crowd pullers of Kolkata. The single storey circular structure designed in the typical Indian style, whose architecture is loosely styled on the Buddhist Great Stupa at Sanchi. Inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru, the planetarium was thrown open to the public in 1963 and is locally known as Taramandal.

The astronomical observatory of the planetarium is well equipped with a wide range of telescopes and accessories such as cameras and solar filters. The highly sophisticated equipment gives you a clear vision of space. Daily shows are hosted with hordes of visitors getting enlightened about the vast universe, solar systems, and the galaxies. The shows also touch upon several facts pertaining to astrophysics and astronomy, and a host of myths associated with planets and stars. The Planetarium offers an M.Phil Degree Course, a Post-Graduate Diploma course and free evening course in astronomy. The planetarium can be reached easily from the Maidan Metro Station.

Photo by: Biswarup Ganguly, Creative Commons Attribution Licence

10, BANDEL CHURCH

The Basilica of the Holy Rosary commonly known as Bandel Church

founded in 1599, is a parish church, part of the Roman Catholic

Archdiocese of Calcutta.

It is one of the most prominent historical Christian churches in

West Bengal as well as in India. It stands as a memorial to

the Portuguese settlement in Bengal .

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11. Birla Industrial & Technological

Museum

The first science museum in India was set up by the industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla at BITS, in Pilani in a hall of the Tower Building in 1954. The museum depicted mainly the industries and business enterprises which was then shifted to the present building at Calcutta after10 years.

Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister of West

Bengal and physician was impressed to see Deutsches Museum of Munich. He thought to set up a science museum and a planetarium in Calcutta. GD Birla helped to put up the museum here.

12. HOWRAH RAILWAY STATION – HERITAGE

BUILDING

Howrah Junction ( Code HWH), also known

as Howrah Station, is the largest railway complex

in India and it is a railway station which

serves Kolkata and Howrah, India.

Approximately 620 passenger trains pass through

the station each day requiring its 23 platforms and

serving more than 1 million passengers per day

with a high train handling capacity.

Howrah Junction is one of five intercity railway

stations serving the city of Kolkata, the others

being Sealdah, Santragachi, Shalimar,

and Kolkata railway station. The station is located

in Howrah on the west bank of the Hooghly

River.1273 stations across India are directly

connected to Howrah Railway Station. This Station

is one of the largest stations in India.

13. MOTHER HOUSE – Missionaries of Charity

Take a look at Kolkata’s most famous landmarks and

check out Mother Teresa’s Mission and Mother House

where Mother Theresa, Nobel Prize Laurete of City of

Joy, lived and worked for the upliftment of poor, old and

sick people.

THE WRITERS’ BUILDING

The Writers’ Building in Kolkata attracts thousands of

tourists from across the world, drawn to its stunning

architecture and design. Built in 1777, the Writers’

Building was meant to accommodate junior servants, or

‘writers’ as they were called, of the East India Company.

However, the colonial-era building has a history that’s

just as interesting. While today the Writers’ (as it’s also

known) houses the State Government of West Bengal, it

has served multiple functions over the past centuries.

Extensive remodelling and renovations have occurred most of the times the building was switched between hands. Today, there are 13 blocks; six of which were added after India won independence from British rule. The 150-metre long structure has a distinct Greco-Roman style, with several statues of Greek gods as well as a sculpture of Roman goddess Minerva commanding

attention from the pediment.

14. St. Paul's Cathedral

It is a CNI (Church of North India) Cathedral of Anglican background in Kolkata, noted for its Gothic architecture. It is the seat of the Diocese of Calcutta. The cornerstone was laid in 1839; the building was completed in 1847.

It is said to be the largest cathedral in Kolkata and the first Episcopal Church in Asia. It was also the first cathedral built in the overseas territory of the British Empire. The edifice stands on Cathedral Road on the "island of attractions" to provide for more space for the growing population of the European community in Calcutta.

14. BOTANICAL GARDEN.

The Indian Botanical Gardens are most famous for the Great Banyan Tree, which boasts of having the largest canopy in the world, founded in 1786 with a total area of 109 Hectares. ( Speciality > It will be difficult to identify the real tree out of thousands of trees). The official name was changed to 'The Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta' in the early 1860s. At present, it is

officially called 'Indian Botanic Garden, Howrah', or as the 'Calcutta Botanic Garden' in India and abroad.

15. Bible Society of India – a heritage

building.

On 21 February 1811, a meeting was held "at the college

of Fort William for the propriety of instituting a Bible

Society, as Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society

established in London", entitled as "The Calcutta Auxiliary

Bible Society" with the same objectives as those in

London."

16. JOROSANKO THAKUR BARI

It is the house in which the poet and first non-European

Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore was born and died

on 7 August 1941. House of the Thakurs (anglicised

to Tagore) in Jorasanko, north of Kolkata, West

Bengal, India, is the ancestral home of the Tagore

family. It is currently located on the Rabindra Bharati

University campus at 6/4 Dwarakanath Tagore

Lane, Jorasanko, Kolkata 700007.

16. Millennium Park

It is a private park in Kolkata, situated along the Strand

Road on eastern shore of Hooghly River for a stretch of

2.5 km near Fairlie Ghat and opposite to Railway Club.

The park consists of landscaped gardens and children's

amusement rides. It was opened along the riverside to

provide a green area for Kolkata's polluted waterway.

The park is part of the first phases of the Kolkata

Riverside Beautification Project. The park is open from

11am-8pm.

17. Mother’s wax museum

Mother's Wax Museum is a wax museum located

in New Town, Kolkata, India. Established in November

2014, it contains wax statues of more than 19

personalities. The museum has been named

after Mother Teresa.

18. Nicco Park

Nicco Park is an amusement park in India, located in Salt Lake

City, Kolkata. The park was created to attract tourists to the

state by providing family-friendly recreation as well as

educative entertainment.

Nicco Park opened on 13 October 1991,and has since been

referred to as the Disneyland of West Bengal. Presently, the 40

acre park is home to over 35 different attractions and has

served over 24 million customers.

Nicco Park also provides a "green" environment.

19. SOUTH PARK STREET CEMETRY – heritage site.

The Park Street Cemetery was one of the earliest non-church cemeteries in the world, and probably the largest Christian cemetery outside Europe and America in the 19th century. Opened in 1767 on what was previously a marshy area, the cemetery was in use until about 1830 and is now a heritage site.

By the year 1785 the burial ground had been extended on the northern side of Park Street and by 1840 a vast new cemetery was opened to the east of the Lower Circular Road. It has been confirmed by a marble plaque at the gate which reads "South Park Street, Opened:1767.

16. Prinsep Ghats

It is a ghat built in 1841 during the British Raj, along the Kolkata bank of the Hooghly River .The Palladian porch in the memory of the eminent Anglo-Indian scholar and antiquary James Prinsep was designed by W. Fitzgerald and constructed in 1843.

Prinsep Ghat is one of the oldest recreational spots of Kolkata. People visit it in the evenings on weekends to go boating on the river, stroll along the bank and purchase food from stalls there. A 2-kilometre (1.2 mi) stretch of the beautified riverfront from Princep has illuminated and landscaped gardens and pathways, fountains, and renovated ghats.

Prinsep Ghat also has a railway station named after it. Located between the Water Gate and the St George's Gate of the Fort William, the monument to Prinsep is rich in Greek and Gothic inlays. All royal British entourages used the Prinsep Ghat jetty for embarkation and disembarkation.

There is a jetty nearby called the Man-O-War jetty that belongs to the Kolkata Port Trust and commemorates the role played by the port in the Second World War. The jetty is mainly used by the Indian Navy.

20. Rabindra Sarobar (previously known as Dhakuria Lake)

This lake is an artificial lake in south Kolkata The name also refers to the area surrounding the lake. Originally known as Dhakuria Lake, in May 1958, CIT renamed the lake as Rabindra Sarovar, as a tribute to the great Bengali writer and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore.

21. The Science City of Kolkata

It is the largest science centre in the Indian subcontinent. It is located at

the crossing of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and J. B. S. Haldane

Avenue. Saroj Ghose, the first director general of NCSM, who is credited

with having conceptualised this centre in 1997.

22. The Shaheed Minar

Ths Shahid Minar ( Martyrs' Monument), formerly known as the Ochterlony Monument (is a monument in Kolkata that was erected in 1828 in memory of Major-general Sir David Ochterlony, commander of the British East India Company, to commemorate both his successful defense of Delhi against the Marathas in 1804 and the victory of the East India Company’s armed forces over the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The monument was constructed in his memory which was was designed by J. P. Parker and paid for from public funds.

In 1969 it was rededicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Indian freedom movement and renamed the "Shaheed Minar," which means

"martyrs' monument. The present government has decided to illuminate the tower during evenings and allow visitors to the top.

23. New Town Eco Park

Bengali: Prakriti Tirtha is an urban

park in Rajarhat, Kolkata and the biggest park so far in India.

The park is situated on a 480 acres (190 ha) plot and is

surrounded by a 104 acres (42 ha) waterbody with an island in

the middle. The park is surrounded by the Kolkata International

Convention Center and the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art on

the North, the upcoming Central Business District and

International Financial Hub on the east.

The Eco park is located near New Town smart city, Kolkata around 10 km away from Kolkata International Airport .

25. Vivekananda Setu

It is also called Willingdon Bridge and Bally Bridge) is a bridge over the Hooghly River, completed in December 1932 It is 2,887 feet (880 m) long. The Bridge was built with eight spans laid at distance of 300 ft each. It is a multispan steel bridge and the length of bridge is almost half mile with 10 km approach roads on both sides.

The foundation laid with well-sinking 100 ft down the river beds and was built to provide road and rail link

between the Calcutta Port and its hinterland. It links the city of Howrah, at Bally, to its twin city of Kolkata, at Dakshineswar.

AQUATICA > Water Amusement Park

Aquatica is an 75000sq ft (17 acre) water theme park

in Kolkata, India, started in 1999. It is one of the largest water

amusement parks and recently another water theme park, Wet

'O' Wild, has come up near Nicco Park in the Salt Lake

City area.

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