The Victoria Memorial Hall inaugurated in 1921 serves as a museum, commemorating the distinguished, epoch-making personalities and landmark events of Indian history . The history of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, is traceable to the days of the British Colonial Empire in India. In fact the association of the regal name of Queen Victoria with the Memorial hall, reinforces the truth.

History of Victoria Memorial , Kolkata
The demise of the venerated Queen Victoria of England, in January 1901, caused Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India, to pay a tribute to the respected memories of the Queen Head of British Kingdom, Queen Victoria. The Victoria Memorial hall is a royal, wide, monumental and expansive structure, invested with grandeur . It is beautified with a mind-blowing garden. This was to be a historical museum where people could see before them pictures and statues of men who played a prominent part in the history of this country and develop a pride in their past.

Royal Gallery, Victoria Memorial
Victoria Memorial, thus a living testimony of the British regime in India, leads any visitor, who arrives into its premises; view the intricate details about the colonial governance. The spectacular miniature paintings and images of Queen Mary, King George V and Queen Victoria are the noteworthy representations in this regard.

Chief Items of Collections
It is evident that Western collections, have made a place for themselves in the "Major Collections" of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. The Victoria Memorial Hall facilitates the visitor with an enormously informative as well as sight-catching repertory of Indian history through the exhibition of paintings, sculptures and manuscripts belonging to the British era, primarily and to other objects of historical as well as aesthetic significance also.

The various sections classified under the banner of Chief Items of Collections, are Western Paintings, Indian Paintings, Archive, Mughal Miniatures, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Postage and Stamps, Lithographs(kind of prints) and Aquatints (kind of engravings), Company School Drawings (natural history paintings), Sculptures, Sketches and weapons .

Western Paintings
A plethora of diversified paintings, done in several medium, like oil-paints, watercolors, aquatints (an etching or impressions, similar to ones composed by water-colours) created by the skilled hands of European painters such as Charles D`oyly, Johann Zoffany, William Hadges, William Simpson, Tilly Kettle, Thomas Hickey, Bultzar Solvyns, Thomas Hickey, Emily Eden and so many. A feather in the cap of the Victoria Memorial Hall, is that it houses the world`s biggest collection of the mind-blowing paintings of Thomas Daniell and his nephew, William Daniell, both deftness personified. Some of the special aquatints, are part of Chowringhee, Calcutta ;Dashamedha Ghat at Benaras; Part of the city of Patna on the River Ganges , the highest office of legal authority, the Supreme Court and so on. Johann Zoffany`s Warren Hastings and his Second Wife, an oil-painting; the Embassy of Hyder Beg to Lord Cornwallis in 1787, another specimen, dazzle the eye with their finesse. Lithographs of Charles D`oyly , graphically representing Office of the Sudder Board of Revenue from the Kyd Street, Hindu Mut (a religious place) at Chitpore Bazar, Suspension Bridge at Alipore over Tolly`s i.e., Tollygunje`s Nulla (stream) etc.

Indian Paintings
Indian Paintings with their intrinsic aura, complements the praiseworthy co-existence of Oriental as well as European art at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata. The fabulous painting on ivory of the image of Mia Tansen, the legendary musician illumining Emperor Akbar`s Court by Lala Deo Lal generates in a mind a feel about this towering figure. Again, the religious as well as cultural connotations attached with the late 19th century oil-painting called Mahisasuramardini, an icon of Goddess Durga, killing the Asura or Devil, reveals the pattern practiced by the growing Bengal school .

Archive
The section of archive furnishes the questing mind with rare and valuable data, which he can avail of probably, nowhere. For instance, the letter that the British dignitary, Lord William Bentinck wrote to the Bengal aristocrat, Prince Dwarakanath Tagore (grand father of Poet Rabindranath Tagore); or the fate-changing treaty signed between Mirzafar and the British, post the Battle of Plassey. They not only narrate historical facts, but depict the scenario of the times they reflect.

Rare Books
The Victoria Memorial Hall Library, flaunts a rarities, that can be traced back to the 1870s. They are William Shakespeare`s collection of his magnum corpus, his ever-appreciable plays, the epitome of eternal fairy-tales, The Arabian Nights, Rubaiyat`s Omar Khayyam and so on. Equally remarkable are the illustrations, that these books are endowed with. For example, the Cover of the stirring Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet with illustrations done by W. Hatherell. Again, the scenic-illustrations of the wittiest expression of diplomacy, the Merchant of Venice, such as that of Act II Scene IV, showing Portia and Nerissa talking among each other , or the crucial meeting among Shylock, Portia, Nerissa, Gratiano, Antonio, and Bassanio, in Act IV Scene I exemplify the text , the best.

Manuscripts
Manuscripts have always been of immense historical worth to any nation. The Victoria Memorial Hall, abounds in such manuscripts. The manuscript copy of Ain-i-Akbari , written by Abul Fazal, the court historian of the Emperor of Akbar; a manuscript copy of Diwan Hafiz or the Gazals of Hafiz; the note book of Tipu Sultan, available in self-hand writing; a manuscript copy of Shah Namah, the famous epic containing the history of the ancient kings of Persia written by Firdausi (999 A.D) etc are some of the jewels of the manuscript segment of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata.

Mughal Miniatures
Mughal Mimniature Paintings, divulging Akbar`s picture, or a depiction of a story of Akbar`s period, and others, add radiance to the pride of collections, that the Victoria Memorial Hall is invested with.

Postage and Stamps
Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, keeps on exposition, Postage and Stamps in countless numbers, which highlight the picture of Queen Victoria .

Company School Drawings
Company School Drawings refer to paintings of natural history, retaining as far as verisimilitude as possible . This happened to be the leisure-hour favorite of 19th century British artists or art-lovers. Fleming`s Album is the most celebrated testimony of Company School Drawings. Robert Home and Arthur William Davis , along with some anonymous Bengal artists, concentrated on works, that the Fleming`s Album displays. The drawings of the Kestrel, the Red whiskered Bulbul, are the brilliant examples of such work.

Sculptures
John Bagon Junior`s peak of craftsmanship, the marble statue of H.R.H.Queen Victoria; that of Derozian & partner of David Hare, the social and educational reformer by the native sculptor, Ram Gopal Ghose (1815-1868); John Tweed made marble bust of Lord Clive, the founder of British Raj in India, that of Peary Chand Mitra (1814- 1856), by Edward Geflowski and so on speak volumes for the elevated standards of collections at the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata.

Weapons
The shinning sword of Tipu Sultan, formerly demonstrated at the Royal United Service Museum in London; Sword (with Ivory hilt) possessed by Sir Colin Campbell. Commander-in- Chief in India in the Indian Military; Burruddan (Gun Powder Flask), constituted by Mother of Pearl and previously the property of Nawaz Wazir Mahmood Khan Bahadur; French Cannon installed at the battlefield at Plassey by the little French group who valiantly supported the Nawab of Bengal, etc, are thrill-kindling reserves of this section.

Sketches
Hundreds of Sketches increase the treasury of collection, residing within the Victoria Memorial hall, Kolkata. One is bound to gaze at the panorama of the Esplanade, the sight of the Government house , as experienced from the bank of river Hooghly or that of the Howrah Dockyard have received popular acclaim.

Others
Besides, the Ivory chair of Warren Hastings, medals conferred on the deserving Prince Dwarkanath Tagore by Queen Victoria are things that complement the opulence of this wide spectrum of collection.

Calcutta Gallery
The Calcutta Gallery, has a discrete charm about itself. The concept first dawned on the Lord Curzon . However, in 1986, Prof. S. Nurul Hasan, the then Education Minister, Government of India and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Victoria Memorial Hall , embarked on a mission of making Calcutta, presently Kolkata, as the epicenter of academic pursuit and tourist attractions.

The Victoria Memorial Hall, is decorated with a garden with majestic halo. The garden of breathtaking beauty is affixed with a bronze statue of Queen Victoria, sculpted by Sir George Frampton, R.A, towards the north gate. The Queen is found posited on her throne, and clad in the robes of the Star of India. Towards the south, visitors pass the King Edward VII memorial arch with a bronze equestrian statue of the King by Sir Bertram Mackennal , and a marble statue of Lord Curzon by F.W. Pomeroy, R.A.

Statues of other Alpha figures like, Lord Bentinck, Governor- General of India (1828-1835), Lord Ripon (Governor- General of India from 1880 to 1884; the statue of Sir Rajendranath Mookerjee, the beginner-industrialist of Bengal , situated on the eastern side, are supplementary presences.

Timings
The Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, remains open on all working days, except Mondays, from 10.00 a.m. to 5.00p.m.

The office remains closed on Sundays and 2nd Saturdays of each month as well as on Indian Government Holidays.

A visit to the Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata, thus enlightens a visitor with the history and its legacies, in the most exact way as possible. Here exotic art fuses with eye-opening history, that leads one into a spellbound voyage of a rich heritage, that India can boast of .