The Jorasanko Thakur Bari is known to be the ancestral home of the Tagore family, and it has now been turned into a museum. Built in the 18th century, it is located within the Rabindra Bharati University campus. It is humongously spread across 35,000 square meters, where polymath Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore was born, spent most of his childhood, and where he passed away. The main building where the museum is built is called the Maharshi Bhavan, after Rabindranath’s father, Maharshi Devendranath Tagore. It houses a personal collection of artworks and personalia belonging to different family members.
Nothing less than a treat to the eyes of historians and culturalists, the Rabindra Bharati Museum has a collection of 2,071 books, 770 journals, 16 paintings, 3,297 photographs, 27 crafts and sculptures, 208 personalia and three pieces of furniture. Forty original paintings by Tagore and his notebooks are on display, which the Government of West Bengal acquired from the Tagore family.
Apart from housing archival pieces from and by the Tagore family, it has many houses —the Japan Gallery, the China Gallery, the US Gallery, and the Hungary Gallery— that have more than 700 paintings along with manuscripts, books and other antiques that shed light on Tagore’s international connections. The museum has a collection of over 3,000 photographs placed on display. Rabindranath’s room, where he stayed during his Kolkata visits and took his final breath, has been preserved the way it was on his last day. Another attraction is Rabindranath’s Humber Car, which is parked in the backyard of the mansion.
Where: 6/4, Dwarakanath Tagore Lane, Kolkata
Timing: 10:30 AM to 5 PM (except Monday and government holidays)
Price: INR 10 for students, INR 20 for adults
Google Rating: 4.6/5
