The National Library, Kolkata is located at the colossus Belvedere Estate in Kolkata’s Alipore. The National Library, Kolkata happens to be India's biggest public library with a collection of 22,70,954 books and a grand collection of manuscripts, periodicals, journals and newspapers that cater to not only the demands of Kolkata's intellectuals but beyond them also. The Belvedere Estate or now National Library, Kolkata is one of the Heritage Buildings of Kolkata and so is well maintained undoubtedly.

History:

The National Library, Kolkata happens to be the first public library of Eastern India. Being the capital of British era, Kolkata was a place of intense intellectual and scholarly activities. But still now it serves the knowledge acquiring people as Kolkata is believed to be the cultural capital of India.

Calcutta Public Library was established in 1836 and was endowed with public donations. Considering the emergence of a library the then Governor General, Lord Metcalf transferred 4,675 volumes of book from the Library of the College of Fort William to the Calcutta Public Library. Prince Dwarkanath Tagore was the first proprietor of the Calcutta Public Library. Afterwards Lord Curzon decided to make an amalgamation of the Calcutta Public Library and the Imperial Library to establish a potential one. By this honest intention Lord Curzon virtually laid the foundation of National Library, Kolkata. John Macfarlane, the Asst. Librarian of the British Museum, London, was appointed as the first Librarian of the Imperial Library. But the library was then called Imperial Library and was formally opened to the public on 30th January 1903 at Metcalf Hall.

After the independence of India the Government of India changed the name of the Imperial Library and named it the National Library. On 1st February, 1953 the National Library, Kolkata was opened to the public, inaugurated by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Sri B.S. Kesavan was appointed as the first librarian of the National Library, Kolkata.

Library Detail:

The National Library, Kolkata owns a huge arena of 30 acres and has exclusive divisions of Indian and Foreign language books and publications.
In the Indian language division, there is a rich collection of books, periodicals and manuscripts of all the major Indian languages like Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu etc. The Sanskrit language division has rare Pali and Prakrit manuscripts.
As far as the Foreign Language division is concerned, there are separate sections like East Asian Division, German Division, Roman Division, Slavonic Division, West Asia and African Division, all of which have exhaustive collection of books and manuscripts.

  -  Location: 1A, Belvedere Estate, Alipore, Kolkata.
  -  Time to Visit: 9 am to 8 pm on working days and 9.30 am to 6 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays.
  -  Admission Fee: Nil.
  -  How to Reach: You can avail bus service or taxi from any part of the city to reach National Library, Kolkata.
  -  Photography / Video charges: Photography is strictly prohibited.
  -  Nearest Railway Station: Howrah Railway Station.
  -  Nearest Metro Station: Esplanade
  -  Nearest Functional Metro Station: Esplanade

Your visit to the National Library, Kolkata will be incomplete without a visit to the Rare Books Section, which has books dating back to the pre 1860 era. The Rare Books Section also comprises monographs, manuscripts and microfilms.