Smita's Kolkata Chronicles

Sir William Jones lay out the plan for a society to pursue Oriental studies on January 1784, and was formally founded in 1804 , then named as Asiatick Society. Later the name was changed to Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal and after independence it became the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Jones presided over the Society till his death in 1794.  The activities include historical research, awarding historians and running an institute for postgraduate studies.  The Asiatic Society building at Park Street comprises of five floors, the first and fifth floor is the library stack area, the second floor is the museum, and the third floor is used for administrative purposes while the fourth floor houses the library.  Although conceived early as 1796, the Asiatic Society Museum was set up at the beginning of 1814 under the superintendence of Dr. Nathaniel Wallich .  The first catalogue was published in 1849 and other descriptive catalogues of different sections started gradually....

The Museum and Art Gallery at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark was founded in 1976. The objective of the museum is in sync with the ideology of ‘Methods of Action’ as laid down by Swami Vivekananda, especially that the Mission will ‘promote and encourage arts and industries’.  The collection comprises of artworks and antiquities classified under – painting, sculpture, manuscripts, folk art, ivory painting, textile, Pata painting, litho-print, silver ornament, terracotta, and laminated photographs. The museum organizes exhibition and periodic displays.  Entrance to the museum The Museum acquires artifacts by purchase and through donations. Many donate their collections of art and antiquities to the museum. Famous Indian artists such as Jogen Choudhury, Sanatan Dinda, S. Nandagopal, Wasim Kapoor, Yusuf Arakkal, Paresh Maity, Chandi Lahiri, Surya Prakash, M. Senathipathi, and Lalita Lajmi – have each donated an artwork to commemorate the 175th year of the adv...

Founded by Lady Ranu Mukherjee in 1933 and run under her competent trusteeship, Academy of Fine Arts is one of the oldest fine arts societies in India.  The entrance Lady Ranu Mukherjee  (born as Priti Adhikary) (1907 – 2000) was a notable patron of Indian art and culture. She hailed from a cultural lineage and was married to an elite family. She was honored with the Légion d'Honneur by the Government of France. She became Rabindranath Tagore's muse, during the last years of the poet's life and was greatly influenced by the Tagorean genre of aesthetics.  She remained the President of the Academy of Fine Arts till 1997. She also held respectable positions at Lalit Kala Academy, Indian Museum in Kolkata, Calcutta University, Benaras Hindu University, Asiatic Society, Rabindra Bharati University and other notable institutions. Painting of Lady Ranu Mukherjee displayed here The institution was initially located in a room lent out by the Indian Museum, and the annu...

Built in 1937 , the Asutosh Museum of Indian Art holds the distinction of being the first public museum in an Indian university. The museum is named after Sir Asutosh Mookerjee who introduced the study of Indology including Indian art and archaeology at the university level. A bust statue of tis great educationist stands at the entrance of the museum. The objective of the museum is to preserve and study Indian art and antiquity particularly of eastern India.  Today the display includes more than 25,000 items consisting of sculptures, paintings, folk-art objects, manuscripts, coins, textiles, terracottas, etc. of diverse array. The museum is spread across two floors and four galleries.  Initially, the collections were housed in the rear portion of the old Senate Hall and then shifted to Murshidabad Imambada. The heavy stone sculptures were deposited underground in 1942, due to the threat of bombing during World War II. The collections were returned to the Senate Hall for five y...