Place · book-market street · India
College Street, Kolkata
Also known as Boi Para, Boipara, College Street book market, College Street (Kolkata)
College Street is a 900-metre street in central Kolkata known as Boi Para, 'Book Town', for the bookshops and pavement stalls that line it; Wikipedia calls it the largest second-hand book market in the world. It takes its name from the institutions along it, including Presidency University, founded as Hindoo College in 1817, the Sanskrit College of 1824 and the University of Calcutta of 1857, and it is home to the Indian Coffee House, long the meeting place of the city's intelligentsia.
- Function
- Learning & scholarship
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 22.576, 88.363
Worth knowing
The famous 'Coffee House at College Street' actually stands on Bankim Chatterjee Street, and traces its history to Albert Hall, founded in April 1876.
Connections (2)
- Site withinKolkata
College Street runs about 900 metres through central Kolkata, from Bidhan Sarani to Bowbazar, crossing Mahatma Gandhi Road and Surya Sen Street. Kolkata's Wikipedia entry notes that most of the city's publishers are concentrated in and around it, and established Bengali publishers such as Ananda Publishers, Mitra and Ghosh and Dey's Publishing are based along the street, while small kiosks sell textbooks, first editions and second-hand books annotated by earlier owners.
- Site adjacencyPresidency College, Calcutta
Presidency University stands on College Street, and its foundation as Hindoo College in 1817 makes it one of the oldest post-secondary liberal arts colleges in South Asia. The street takes its name from this cluster of institutions: Presidency, the Sanskrit College of 1824, the Medical College of 1835, the University of Calcutta of 1857, the Hindu School and Hare School. Its bookstalls sell everything from school and college textbooks to rare first editions and old annotated texts.
Sources
Wikipedia, "College Street (Kolkata)", "Indian Coffee House" and "Kolkata".
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