Kolkata’s Museum of Word celebrates India’s linguistic legacy

Kolkata: From rare books and centuries-old manuscripts to living languages, ancient scripts, and oral traditions, the National Library of India and its newly established Museum of Word at Belvedere House offer visitors a comprehensive glimpse into the country’s rich knowledge heritage.

A media delegation from Telangana, participating in a PIB Hyderabad media tour to Kolkata, visited the National Library and Museum of Word on Friday. Md Usman Ghani, Library and Information Officer at the National Library, briefed the visiting journalists on the institution’s history, collections, preservation initiatives, and services.

The National Library traces its origins to the Calcutta Public Library, established in 1836. The library was amalgamated with the Imperial Secretariat Library in 1902 to form the Imperial Library. Post-independence, it was renamed the National Library under the Imperial Library Change of Name Act 1948 and opened to the public on 1 February 1953 by then Union Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Functioning as a permanent repository of books, newspapers, and periodicals published in India under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers Public Libraries Act 1954, the library has digitised around 80 lakh pages covering 25000 books Indian Culture portal.

A key highlight on the historic Belvedere Estate campus is the Museum of Word, India’s first immersive language museum. Developed by the Ministry of Culture through the National Library and National Council of Science Museums, Phase I was inaugurated on 19 July 2026. Built with a sanctioned outlay of Rs 41 crore, of which Phase I cost Rs 15 crore, the 2282 square metre facility features nine galleries detailing early human expression, the 400 undeciphered Indus script symbols, 121 census-recorded languages, and Telangana’s Gunjala Gondi script.