Victoria Memorial Hall Guided Tour (Including Surrounding Areas)

Victoria Memorial Hall Guided Tour (Including Surrounding Areas)

This tour re-lives the colonial historical past of Kolkata. It also gives a taste of the Bengali culture. Overall it translates into a walk into the past from the present.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Nehru Children's Museum, 94/1 Chowringhee Road, Kolkata (Calcutta) India

The Museum was established in 1972 in the name of the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was very fond of children and Indian children call him 'Cha Cha Nehru' meaning Uncle Nehru.

The Museum features Dolls gallery, Toys gallery, Ramayana & Mahabharata in clay models are the most fascinating archives for the children.

The Dolls Gallery had 1.2 crore visitors since its inception. Dolls from 92 countries are displayed here. There is a second Dolls Gallery where dolls from 37 countries are displayed. In addition, there is a Ganesh Gallery displaying 300 Ganesh Idols.

The Ramayana and Mahabharata in miniature models create a world for a child where he or she can spend time for hours and learns about our heritage epics.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Sisir Mancha, Shop No.1, 1, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Rd, Maidan, Kolkata, West Bengal 700020, India

Sisir Mancha is an auditorium located beside the Kolkata Information Center. This auditorium is regularly used for Bengali theatres. The auditorium is adjacent to Rabindra Sadan and Nandan Complex. The theatre auditorium is named after Bengali dramatist Sisir Kumar Bhaduri and it was established in 1978.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Nandan West Bengal Film Centre, 1/1, A.J.C. Bose Road, Circus Ave, Kolkata, West Bengal, Kolkata (Calcutta) 700020 India

Nandan is a government-sponsored film and cultural center in Kolkata, India. The primary aim of the cultural hub is to encourage and facilitate cinematic awareness in society. It includes a few comparatively large screens housed in an impressively architectured building.

The foundation stone of Nandan was laid by former Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and was officially inaugurated on 2 September 1985 by film-maker Satyajit Ray. The complex, besides being a modern cinema and cultural complex, is a popular destination for the young and the aged alike.

Nandan is one of the main venues of the Kolkata International Film Festival, hosting it till 2010. While in 2011 the opening and closing ceremonies were shifted to Netaji Indoor Stadium, Nandan remains the main centre for the festival.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: Academy of Fine Arts, 2 Cathedral Road, Kolkata (Calcutta) 700071 India

The museum is a repository of one of the finest collections of paintings by eminent artists. Academy of Fine Arts Museum is housed on the first floor of Academy Building. The entire spacious first floor of the building covering about 10,000 sq. ft area is devoted to the museum of objects of art. The collection of Rabindra Gallery can be divided into three categories – personal effects of Tagore, his letters and manuscripts and his paintings. The outstanding artifacts of this gallery are the Bhanusingher Patrabali, Rabindra Nath Tagore’s locks of hair given to Lady Ranu Mookerjee as her wedding gift. The Miniature Art Gallery houses painting of various schools like Mughal, Rajasthani, Ram-Sita, Rag-Ragini, and others. The gallery of Contemporary Art has a good collection of paintings and sculptures from 1900 to present day, that includes Acharya Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Asit Halder, Kshitin Mazumdar, Samar Gupta, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Sarada Ukil, Sudhir Khastagir, Ramkinkar Beij, and many others. The Old Textile Gallery has a unique collection of Balucharis, Benarasis, Chamba Rumal, Daccai Jamdani, Patola, and others. The Balucharis with the names of the master weaver Shri Dubraj and Gostha Karikor is unique. Another important collection of Academy museum is the T. Leslie Martin collection of Carpets that are housed in the Carpet Gallery. The Old Engravings Gallery is rich with the artworks of Danielle, Colebricke, Joffany, Atkinson, and others. The Contemporary Graphic Art and Line Drawing Gallery houses the works of Jainul Abedin, Nandalal Bose, Ramendranath Chakraborty, Chitta Prasad, Mukul De, Haren Das, and others.

Duration: 30 minutes

Stop At: St. Paul's Cathedral, 1A, Cathedral Road, Kolkata (Calcutta) 700071 India

St. Paul's Cathedral is a CNI (Church of North India) Cathedral of Anglican background in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, 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 in the 1800s.

Following the 1897 earthquake and the subsequent massive earthquake of 1934, when Calcutta suffered substantial damage, the cathedral was reconstructed to a revised design. The architectural design of the cathedral is "Indo-Gothic", a Gothic architectural style designed to meet the climatic conditions of India. The cathedral complex has a library, situated over the western porch, and a display of Plastic art forms and memorabilia.

Apart from that of Bishop Daniel Wilson, the founder of the cathedral, the other notable burial in the church is that of John Paxton Norman, an acting Chief Justice who was assassinated in 1871.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: M P Birla Planetarium, 96 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata (Calcutta) 700071 India

The M. P. Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, is an iconic structure whose architecture is based on the famous Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi. It is a landmark in the city of Kolkata. The planetarium opened its door on 29th September 1962 and was formally inaugurated on 2nd July 1963 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India.

We will see the show Cosmic Collision or Our Universe here.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Victoria Memorial Hall, 1 Queen's Way, Kolkata (Calcutta) India

The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, which was built between 1906 and 1921. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria (1809–1901) and is now a museum and tourist destination under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

The Victoria Memorial has 25 galleries. These include the royal gallery, the national leaders' gallery, the portrait gallery, central hall, the sculpture gallery, the arms and armory gallery and the newer, Calcutta gallery. The Victoria Memorial has the largest single collection of the works of Thomas Daniell (1749–1840) and his nephew, William Daniell (1769–1837). It also has a collection of rare and antiquarian books such as the illustrated works of William Shakespeare, the Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam as well as books about kathak dance and thumri music by Wazid Ali Shah. However, the galleries and their exhibitions, the programmatic elements of the memorial do not compete with the purely architectural spaces or voids.

The tour ends with a historic show of light & Sound.

Duration: 2 hours