8 FAMOUS PLACES TO VISIT IN KOLKATA

1.THE VICTORIA MEMORIAL

The Victoria memorial is a huge monument made of white marble  and is located in the center of city, Kolkata in west Bengal,India.
The foundation stone of the memorial was laid by the Prince of wales in 1906.
The victoria memorial, kolkata was designed by Sir william Emerson

HISTORY
The Victoria Memorial was built between 1906 and 1921,in the memory of Queen Victoria.
When Queen Victoria breathed her last in January 1901,George curzon,1st Marquess curzon of Kedleston and viceroy of India,suggested the construction of fitting memorial.
The Prince of Wales ,King v laid the foundation stone of Victoria Memorial on January 4,1906.

DESIGN OF PALACE

The total cost of this monument amounted to 1 crore,5 lakhs rupees.
The Victoria memorial has 25 galleries,which 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.

Important informations
Openin hours 10 AM-5PM
(All days except monday and national holidays)

2.KALIGHAT TEMPLE 

Kalighat Temple is famous kali temple located in kolkata,west bengal.The original temple was a amall hut shaped structure,which was built by Raja Mansingh in the 16 th centuary.

The temple is one of the 51 shakti peetha.
The temple is near the hoogly river in the centre of city.The temple receives a huge number of devotees especially on kali puja,poila boishakh,durga puja and the bengali new year.
The main shrine of temple has a unique image of Goddess Kali.

 History
The present form of the kalighat temple is only 200 years old. Mansar bhasan composed in the 15 th century.
The origin of temple was a small hut.
The present temple was erected by Roy choudhury of Sabarna roy choudhury family of Barisha.

Significance of the temple
Kalighat kali is one of the most importnt temples in India dedicated to goddess Maa kali.
As per the legends, the different parts of sati fell on the earth at the time of self sacrifice.It is believed that the right toe of sati fell here and subsequently the temple was erected to commemorate the goddess.
The name of the city  Calcutta is also sad to been coined after kalighat.

Important informations
Nearest metro stations Jatin das park and kalighat (south east)
Timings 
5.00AM-2.00PM and 5 PM-10.30PM
Pooja timings
Mongal aarti 4.00am
Nitya pooja 5.30-7.00pm
Bhog rag 2.30pm-3.30m

sandhya aarti 6.30-7.00pm

3.BIRLA PLANETARIUM

Birla Planetarium was set up by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 2nd July 1963.It is on of the largest museum in Asia.It was opened to the public.It is also known as Taramandal.

There are also pictures of famous astronauts and other space related pictures on display in the hallway.
It provides a place where astronomical presentations take place.It provides useful piece of information about solar system,galaxies,life span of stars,space,planets and other heavenly bodies.
Many programs are carried out in the planetarium in various languages including Hindhi,English,Bengali and other languages.
This one is recognized as the largest planetarium in Asia and the second largest planetarium in the world.

Architecture
The style in the architecture of Birla Planetarium has been adopted from sanchi stupa.
The dome has a diameter of 23 m and can accommodate as many as 688 people.
How to reach
The Planetarium is situated at a distance of 18 km from airport .It is located at a distance of 5 km from the railway station and can be easily reached via taxi.

TIMINGS
12.00AM -6.30PM

4.BELUR MATH 

Belur Math is over 40 acres of land on the west of hoogly River,Belur.The Belur Math in Kolkata is a place of pilgrimage and also the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and mission.

History
Upon his arrival in Colombo in January 1897 with his small group of disciples,Swami Vivekananda had founded two monasteries.One of them is Belur math and the purpose of theses monasteries was to train the young men in their work.Swami Vivekananda himself spend the last few years of his life at Belur Math.

Architecture
The design of the temple was envisaged by Swamy Vivekananda,and the responsiblity of the architecture was laid in his hands.
The architecture of the temple celebrate the diversity of Indian religions.When seen from different angles the monuments resembles a temple,a church and a mosque.

The main entrance of the temple is influenced by the Buddhist styles of the Sanchi stupa and the entry of the Ajanta caves.
The windows and the balconies draw from the Rajput and Mughal styles of architecture designs.
The ground plan is the shape of christian cross. Belur math is mainly built out of chunar stone and the 112 feet high temple has images of Lord Ganesha and Hanuman.


Belur Math timings
The visiting hours of this Belur Math 
APRIL TO SEPTEMBER 6.00-11.30AM and 4.00PM-7.00PM
OCTOBER TO MARCH 8.30AM 11.30AM and 3.30-6.00pm

Tuesday and sundays timings
April-september 8.30AM -11.30and 4.00PM- 6.00pm
October TO March 8.30 am -11.30 am and 3.30pm-6.00pm

5.INDIAN MUSEUM

Indian museum is the largest and oldest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques,Armour and ornaments,fossils,skeletons,mummies and Mughal paintings.Over 60 galleries display a collection ranging from ancient sculptures and Egyptian mummies.
The ninth oldest museum of the world and largest in India,the Indian museum is located in the old city of kolkata popularly known as Jadughar.

Anthropological section
 It showcase objects belonging to both tribal and non tribal peoples of India.

Art sections
This sections comprises of textiles,miniature paintings,beautiful art.
Objects from Asian countries like Japan, China,Tibet,Nepal,Srilanka,Myanmar,Java,Thailand,Persian carpets,Kanthas of Bengal land many more.
Industrial section
The industrial section flaunts a range of botanical specimens bearing forest,medicine,agriculture and cottage industry.

Open time 
Tuesday to Sunday March-November 10.00AM-5.00PM
December-February 10.00AM-4.30PM

6.ROYAL CALCUTTA TURF CLUB 

The Royal Calcutta Turf Club is founded in 1847 in Calcutta,British India during that British Rule.

RCTC is situated on defense lands,it is at the heart of the city near the Victoria memorial.
RCTC is best tourist place for the tourist and is the center of attraction for polo lovers for its regular polo matches.
Kolkata Race is located near Victoria palace.The Kolkata race course is one of the biggest race venues in India.
Significant places of interest near the race course ground are Victoria memorial,st Paul's cathedral, Academy of fine arts,Fort William,Calcutta swimming club,Howrah bridge,Eden garden.

History
Horse polo being a favorite pastime sport of the British.
Calcutta at that time was one of the central seats of British Administration.

Some prestigious races started by them were the Queen Elizabeth cup and The Calcutta derby cup.

7.HOWRAH BRIDGE

Howrah Bridge over the Hoogly river in west Bengal, Kolkata,India. 
At the time of construction ,it was the 3rd longest cantilever bridge.Now its the sixth longest bridge of its type in the world.
The first vehicle to use the bridge was a solitary tram.

It is a cantilever bridge and is regarded as one of the busiest ones  and carries  a daily traffic of over 100,000 vehicles and 150,000 pedestrians.

HISTORY
The twin cities of Howrah and kolkata are connected by the Howrah bridge or the Rabindra setu.
FACTS
The bidge was designed by Rendel,palmer and Tritton and was constructed by the Braithwaite burn and Jessop construction company ltd.
The construction began in 1936 and ended in 1942.

The bide was opened on 3rd Feb 1943.The bridge is a very unique architecture feature and almost 26,500 tons of steel were used in construction of this bridge.
The steel used for construction was supplied by Tata steel.
Total length of the bridge is 705 m.

The bridge does not have nuts and bolts and was built by riveting the whole structure.
on June 14th 1965,the bridge was renamed Rabindra setu after the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.

8.VIDYASAGAR SETU BRIDGE

Vidyasagar Setu bridge also known as the second Hoogly is a toll bridge over the Hoogly River in West Bengal,India linking the cities of kolkata and Howrah.
With the total length of 823 metres,vidyasagar setu is the longest cable stayed bridge in India and one of the longest in Asia.

The design of the bridge is acable stayed bridge with dead load composite deck structure.
The width of the bridge is 35mts/2,700ft
The construction of the bridge was started in the year 3 July 1979.
The daily total number of vehicles crossing this bridge is almost 85,000 vehicles.
Vidyasagar setu is the longest cable stayed bridge in India and one of the longest in Asia.
The complete design is first of its kind in India. 
Usha Martin prepared a complete literature based on the technical requirements of bridge.