A bunch of us travelled to Kolkata with our families and visited the Victoria Memorial and the Indian Museum. My first proper museum trip in Kolkata, and it’s easily the best museum city in India.

The Victoria Memorial, conceived by Lord Curzon after the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 and opened in 1921, is stunning as architecture. But seeing it in India feels a bit off. Built with Indian money and marble from Rajasthan, it’s also a reminder of the scale of extraction during British rule.

The Indian Museum is something else altogether. The range of archaeology, fossils, art, and anthropology is incredible. You can spend hours and still not be done.

Sharing this because we don’t really have a strong museum-going culture in India. Maybe the long stretch of British rule has something to do with it. But if there are two museums to start with, these are a must-visit.

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