Exploring India

Heritage of Bengal

Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta in West Bengal was the capital of India during the British Raj, until 1911. West Bengal is scattered with colonial palaces & estates that once filled in as workplaces & summer houses of British officials who resided in West Bengal. 

The Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, the French, and the Britishers, all have left their lasting presence in Bengal, the fact is clearly visible from the churches, cemeteries, mansions and clock towers which carry an approx 400 years of European existence.

In 1997 the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority established a State Heritage Commission for enlistment of heritage buildings, sites, surroundings etc. situated in the urban as well as rural areas of the State of West Bengal & passed The West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC) Act, 2001.

The heritage resorts in West Bengal are gathered for the most part in Kolkata & its outskirts. Few of the properties are being maintained & renovated by the family members themselves others have been taken under by major hotel chains or collaboration with the state government.