Academy of Indian History

Location: 361/ B Rabindra Sarani.

Time to Visit: 10 A.M - 6 P.M.

Preferred Timings: Morning between 10 A.M. - 11 A.M. and 3 P.M.- 5 P.M.

Admission Fee: Nil.

How to Reach: Local buses, mini buses and metered taxis are readily available from various parts of the city. One can also avail the very efficient underground metro railway.

Photography / Video charges: Strictly prohibited.

Nearest Railway Station: Howrah.

Nearest Metro Station: Rabindra Sadan.

Nearest Functional Metro Station: Rabindra Sadan.

Nearest International Airport: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.

Time required for sightseeing: 1 hour.

The Academy of Indian History is an institution that specializes in interpretation of history, particularly Indian history through the medium of coins. The academy has an exclusive coin gallery with a rich collection of coins, some of which are rarest of the rare kind.

The study of coins or numismatics as it is popularly called, is one of the most fascinating ways of deciphering ancient history. There are certain periods in our nation's history where very little is known in the absence of any official documents. In such cases, coins help us unravel the hidden truth.

At one point of time, India was a conglomeration of 500 princely states. Some were as big as England and only a few square miles in area. Many of the princely states had their own coins.

With the advent of the East India Company in India, the British administration introduced their own monetary system and accordingly they passed the Coinage Act in 1835. From then on, coins were minted in Western style with effigies of king/queen of England on the obverse and the value on the reverse.

The academy has been playing a pioneering role of collecting coins and unraveling fascinating insights to India's rich virile past which reflect stories of royalty, power and patriotism related to ancient and medieval India.

A visit to The Academy of Indian History will reveal the evolution of coinage in India. What will come as a surprise to you is the fact that the earliest Indian coins had no definite shape and were mostly uniface. Add to it, the fact that these coins were mostly of silver and with no inscription on them.

Earlier, historians were of the opinion that the system of coinage was a Greek invention. But, on the hindsight, today, we are certain that the concept of coinage was very much an Indian concept viz-a-viz the punch-marked coins, not seen in any other coins of the ancient world.

An amazing experience awaits you at the Academy of Indian History. As you walk through the galleries, you come across coins, their designs, changes in languages, scripts and dates which has enabled the scholars to predict with a great degree of accuracy the rise and fall of kingdoms and their rulers.

Nearby Tourist Attractions

Kalighat.