Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata

Birla Industrial & Technological Museum , a unit under National Council of Science Museums, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is at Gurusaday Road, Kolkata.HistoryThe first science museum in India was set up by the industrialist Ghanshyam Das Birla at BITS, in Pilani in a hall (185 sq.mt area) of the Tower Building. The museum depicted mainly the industries and business enterprises of the Birlas. The museum was opened to the public in 1954. Ten years later the museum was shifted to the present building.The second science museum was mooted by KS Krishnan, physicist and the then Director of National Physical Laboratory (NPL), he was inspired and encouraged by the then prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. R Subramanian was appointed to develop science museum and planetarium project by NPL in 1956. The science museum of 555 sq.mr floor space in Delhi was opened for public in 1956, but it was close down by the authority after few years, although it was appreciated by general visitors.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. Roy requested to GD Birla for a help. Birla donated his residential house to the then prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. The three storied Victorian style architectural building along with five bighas land of ‘Birla Park’, where they had lived for thirty five years.

The Kolkata tram is a tram system in Kolkata, India, run by the Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC). It is currently the only operating tram network in India and the oldest operating electric tram in Asia, running since 1902.

The Indian Museum is the largest and oldest museum in India and has rare collections of antiques, armour and ornaments, fossils, skeletons, mummies.

Science City, Kolkata is the first and largest Science City in Indian Sub-continent.

Prinsep Ghats is a ghat built in 1841 during the British Raj, along the Kolkata bank of the Hooghly River in India. 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.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. It was restored by the state’s public works department in November 2001 and has since been well-maintained. In its initial years, all royal British entourages used the Prinsep Ghat jetty for embarkation and disembarkation.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. One stall selling ice-cream and fast food has been there for more than 40 years. A 2km stretch of the beautified riverfront from Princep Ghat to Babughat was inaugurated on 24 May 2012. It has illuminated and landscaped gardens and pathways, fountains, and renovated ghats. One of the songs in the Bollywood film Parineeta was shot here on the ghats.Prinsep Ghat also has a railway station named after it. The station is part of the Kolkata Circular Railway which is maintained by Eastern Railway. The station code is PPGT.

St. Paul’s Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral 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.

Birla Mandir in Kolkata, India, is a Hindu temple on Asutosh Chowdhury Avenue, Ballygunge, built by the industrialist Birla family. This temple is open in the morning from 5.30 A.M. to 11 A.M. and in the evening from 4.30 P.M. to 9 P.M. On Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna, devotees come from far away places to pay their respect to the deities.HistoryThe construction of the temple began in 1970. It took 26 years to complete the entire structure. The construction was supervised by the Sompuras.On Wednesday, the 21st of February, 1996, the Pran Prathistha was done by Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj in the morning. Dr. Karan Singh inaugurated the temple the same day.TempleThe main temple houses statues of deities Krishna and Radha.The left side temple shikhar (dome) houses goddess Durga, the Hindu goddess of Shakti, the power.The right side dome of the temple houses Shiva in meditation mode.Spread on 44 kathas of land, this temple built of white marble bears resemblance to the renowned Lingaraj Temple of Bhubaneswar. Birla Mandir also showcases pictorial depiction of scriptures of Bhagavad Gita in its stone engravings and some intricate Rajasthani temple architecture. Designed by the architect Nomi Bose.

Need for a Metro Railway / underground railway like network in Kolkata was conceived first by Dr. B.C. Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal in 1949. The judicious decision of constructing a Metro Railway like network in Kolkata and a suburb has ultimately revolutionalized the transport network of the great city of Kolkata by turning Metro Railway into the lifeline of the ‘City of Joy’. The first Metro Railway project of length 16.45 km. in the North – South axis of the City between Dum Dum and Tollygunge became a rality on 24th October, 1984 with the commissioning of partial commercial service covering a distance of 3.40 km. with 5 stations between Esplanade and Bhowanipore (now Netaji Bhavan) and finally, in the entire stretch from 17th September, 1995. In the second phase (9.7 km. route), extension of Metro Railway from Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge) to Kavi Nazrul & later from Kavi Nazrul to Kavi Subhash (New Garia), were inaugurated on 22nd August, 2009 & 7th October, 2010 respectively. On 10th July 2013, Metro services further extended from DumDum to Noapara(2.091 kms).” TOURIST DESTINATION ON METRO ALIGNMENT Name of Tourist spot Name of station Jain Temple Belgachia Jorasanko Thakurbari Girish Park Mahajati Sadan , Marble Palace, Nakhoda Mosque M. G. Road Sahid Minar, Eden Garden, Raj Bhavan Esplanade Indian National Museum, Asiatic Society Park Street Nandan, Sisir Mancha, Rabindra Sadan, Nehru Children’s Museum, Birla Planatorium, Academy of Fine Arts, Victoria Memorial Hall St. Paul’s Cathedral Rabindra Sadan Kali Temple Kalighat Rabindra Sarovar, Rabindra Saravor stadium Rabindra Saravor

Tourism Park in Kolkata