Uttarayan Complex (Rabindra Bhavana)

Where Tagore lived

The Uttarayan complex, on the northern side of the campus, is a group of five houses Rabindranath Tagore built and lived in during his later years. Each is in a different style, and he moved between them as his mood and needs changed. His son Rathindranath laid out the gardens that link them.

The five houses

Udayan is the largest and grandest, with rooms set at different levels. Konark has a mix of rooms and verandas that Tagore kept changing. Shyamali is an experiment in mud, with a roof and walls of earth and relief figures on its outer walls, made by Kala Bhavana students under Nandalal Bose; Ramkinkar Baij made the Santal figures by the door. Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba stayed here as guests. Punascha and Udichi, the last two, are small and simple. A museum called Guha Ghar, opened in 2013, remembers Rathindranath.

Rabindra Bhavana museum

Rabindra Bhavana was set up in 1942, the year after Tagore died, as a museum and research centre. It holds his manuscripts, letters, photographs and personal things, and a large collection of his paintings, which many visitors don't know he made. Tagore's Nobel Prize medal was stolen from here in 2004; replicas are shown in its place.

Before you go

One ticket covers the museum and the houses. The museum is closed on Wednesday, the university's weekly holiday; some sources also list other closed days and a lunch break, so check the hours before you go. Photography inside the museum is restricted unless you have permission. You take your shoes off to go into the houses, and some interiors are seen from the doorway.

How long to spend

Allow about two hours. Come in the morning, when it is cooler in the garden, then walk to Kala Bhavana or take a toto to Sonajhuri Haat if it is a Saturday.