Home of India’s famous   Noble Laureate winner – Rabindranath Tagore was the epicenter of the Bengal Renaissance in the 19th century. An important center for social reform and the house of Bengali literature was where Rabi Thakur was born on 7th May 1861 and breathed his last here in 1941. Jorasanko Thakurbari was constructed by Tagore’s grandfather in the 18th century. It got its name from the two ‘Shankar’ or Shiva temples, called Jora Shankar, which can be found near the house. There is also another folklore that says it came from two bamboo (jora) or wooden bridges that spanned a stream nearby.

In the year 1961, as part of the centenary celebration of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Ray legally procured the house. Thus, it came under the care of the Government. Finally, on 8th May 1961, the Rabindra Bharati Museum was established by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India in honor of Kaviguru.

The museum has forty original paintings of Rabindranath acquired from Rathindranath Tagore (Rabindranath’s son) by the West Bengal Government including a lot of photographs that came as a permanent loan from the National Library. The Museum is an integral part of the Rabindra Bharati University, established in 1962, for the advancement of the highest education in various disciplines of Humanities and Performing Arts.

The museum offers a delightful and epic light and sound show. In the introductory half, it depicts the story of the advent of Tagore’s family to Jorasanko Thakur Bari. Following which, their glorious role in the Bengal renaissance is depicted. The last part concludes with the enthralling life of the Great Bard.