Jorasanko Thakur Bari

Visit this heritage dwelling of one of the most renowned poet and artist in the Indian history, Rabindranath Tagore, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, which houses an arts and cultural university along with an intimate museum that showcase the life of the Tagore family and their works.

About the Museum

If you are in Kolkata and do not make a visit to Jorasanko Thakur Bari or the ancestral house of the Tagores, then your trip might be deemed incomplete. The most renowned among the Tagores was Rabindranath Tagore, a poet, artist, the first Asian to be honored with a Nobel Prize, and the pride of Kolkata. The heritage mansion is the place where Rabindranath Tagore was born and where he spent his childhood days and the later years. The Thakur Bari was also the dwelling of Gaganendranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore, the founders of the Bengal School of Art.

Today, the Jorasanki Thakur Bari has been transformed into Rabindra Bharati University, a school for Indian Classical Fine Arts and quality education along with an incredible museum known as Rabindra Bharati Museum that was inaugurated in 1962 and houses impressive exhibits illustrating the lives of the Tagores. The Thakur Bari has played an integral part in Bengal’s art and cultural reformation including Bengal Renaissance and the Brahmo Samaj and is a temple for artists and art lovers from all over the country. One of the halls inside the heritage building is known as Maharishi Bhavan which is named after the poet’s father, Maharishi Debendranath Tagore, where it is written outside that ‘’Rabindranath was born here and breathed his last here’’. The house has a splendid museum with three galleries dedicated to the lives of Tagores and the Bengal Renaissance. The room which belonged to Rabindranath Tagore is kept well preserved with all his belongings just the way they used to be and the visitors are not allowed to touch the artifacts.

The Rabindra Bharati Museum inside the Jorasanko Thakur Bari has an overall assortment of 2071 books, 770 journals, 16 paintings, 3297 photographs, 27 crafts and sculptures, and 208 personalia, and 3 pieces of furniture that belonged to Rabindranath Tagore. The galleries offer a glimpse into the lives of the Tagore family through photographs, life-size portraits, and Tagore’s growth as a poet and philosopher. The first gallery displays the life of Tagore and his imminent works and the other two galleries narrate stories about his family and other stalwarts of the 19th Century Renaissance Bengal such as Dwarakanath, Debendranath, Rabindranath, Abanindranath, Gaganendranath, etc. The museum also has a fascinating China Gallery, Japan Gallery, US Gallery, and the Hungary Gallery that showcase the visits and relations Rabindranath had with these countries. More than 700 paintings, manuscripts, books, and other antiques are displayed in the galleries. The Rabindra Bharti University organizes several programs such as PanchiseBaisakh which takes place on Rabindranath's birthday and the festival of arts known as Aban Mela for the visitors and the art enthusiasts.