Jorasanko Thakur Bari

Jorasanko Thakur Bari is the ancestral home of the Tagore family, on Rabindra Sarani in north Kolkata. Rabindranath Tagore, poet, artist and Asia's first Nobel laureate, spent his childhood here and came back in his final days. The painters Gaganendranath and Abanindranath Tagore, founders of the Bengal School of Art, also lived in the house, which was a centre of the Bengal Renaissance and the Brahmo Samaj.

The family's link with the site began in 1784, when Nilmoni Tagore was given a plot east of Chitpur Road after a family dispute. The modest house grew under Dwarkanath Tagore, the poet's grandfather. The Tagores held liberal views, rejected purdah and encouraged the women of the household to take part in cultural and literary life.

As the family dispersed, the property passed to Rabindra Bharati University, known for its fine arts courses. The Rabindra Bharati Museum, set up in 1961, displays material on the family's lives. The red-brick complex covers about 35,000 square metres and has a curved verandah that once overlooked a central stage.