 Currency Building, viewed fromB. B. D. Bagh (formerly the 'Dalhousie Square') | |
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Former name | Agra Bank Agra and Masterman's Bank Currency Office Reserve Bank of India Old Currency Building[1] |
|---|---|
| Established | 1833 (built) 1868 (Currency Office conversion) 2020 (post-renovation dedication) |
| Location | Old Court House Road and Surendra Mohan Ghosh Sarani, Lal Dighi, B. B. D. Bagh (Dalhousie Square), Kolkata,West Bengal,India |
| Coordinates | 22°34′14″N88°21′01″E / 22.57056°N 88.35028°E /22.57056; 88.35028 |
| Type | Museum |
| Curator | DAG Museums National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) |
| Public transit access |  Mahakaran B. B. D. Bagh |
TheCurrency Building is an early 19th-century building in theB. B. D. Bagh (Dalhousie Square)central business district ofKolkata inWest Bengal,India. The building was originally built in 1833 to house the Calcutta branch of theAgra Bank. In 1868, it was converted for use by the Office of the Issue and Exchange of Government Currency, an office of the Controller of the Currency under theBritish Raj. From 1935 until 1937, theReserve Bank of India (RBI) used the building as its first central office. The building remained in use, and was used at one time by theCentral Public Works Department (CPWD) as a storehouse. Authorities decided to demolish it in 1994.
From 1996 to 1998, the CPWD undertook demolition; but the building was saved from being completely demolished by theIndian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and theKolkata Municipal Corporation. In 2003, custodianship passed to theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI), which renovated the building from 2005 to 2019. On 11 January 2020,Prime MinisterNarendra Modi formally dedicated and reopened it as a museum.
The Currency Building is a three-storyItalianate structure, consisting of floors covered bymarble andChunar sandstone. Its main entrance features a three-part gate made ofwrought iron andVenetian windows. The building's central hall, now an open-air courtyard, was formerly topped by three large domes with skylights. During its use as a currency office, the central hall contained the exchange counters for banknotes, gold, silver, and small change. During the building's renovation, the central hall was reorganized into a space for open-air programmes.
The Currency Building is located at 11B onB. B. D. Bagh (which is Kolkata's central business district, formerly known as Dalhousie Square), at the intersection ofOld Court House Road and Surendra Mohan Ghosh Sarani.[2][3][4] The building's main façade faces west toward B. B. D. Bagh.[2][5] The Lal Dighi water tank is located approximately 100 metres (330 ft) northwest of the building, theMahakaran metro station onGreen Line and the B. B. D. Bagh Tram Station are immediately west,[2][6] and theHooghly River is approximately 660 metres (2,170 ft) west.[2]
Calcutta served as the capital of theBritish Raj from the 18th century until 1911, whenNew Delhi became the capital.[7] During Calcutta's tenure as capital, Dalhousie Square was the city’s financial, social, and political center.[7] The plot in Dalhousie Square, on which the Currency Building now stands, was originally the site of the Calcutta Auction Company's office building.[8] In 1825, the Agra Bank[a] acquired the plot,[8] constructing, in 1833, duringWilliam Bentinck's tenure asgovernor general, the present-day building to house its Calcutta branch.[14][15][16] The Agra Bank ceased operation in 1866.[12][b]
In 1868, the imperial Controller of the Currency converted a large portion of the Currency Building for use by the Office of the Issue and Exchange of Government Currency, after which it became known as the Currency Building.[14][15][16] TheCalcutta Mint sent silver coins to the currency office, to maintain a working reserve of currency, while the bulk of India's silver was held inFort William.[18][19] In addition to issuing and storing coinage, the Indian government also utilized the building for the issue of paper currency.[20] Between 1889 and 1890, the Bengal government improved the building's drainage, as part of its maintenance of Calcutta's civil buildings.[21]
Following the establishment of theReserve Bank of India (RBI) on 1 April 1935,[22] the Currency Building served as RBI's first central office from 1935 to 1937.[16][20][23] The RBI was established to regulate the issuance of banknotes, maintain reserves to secure monetary stability, and operate India's currency and credit systems.[24] In 1937, the RBI relocated its central office from the Currency Building toBombay.[16][20][23] From 1937 to 1994, the building remained in use, but it suffered neglect. At one point it was used by the CPWD as a storehouse.[5][15][20]
In 1994, authorities decided to raze the Currency Building due to structural deterioration;[15] and custodianship passed to the CPWD, which planned to build a high-rise building in its place.[5][16][25] In 1996, the CPWD commenced the building's demolition.[15] The department had demolished the building's three large domes over the central hall before theIndian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and theKolkata Municipal Corporation intervened and halted demolition in 1998.[5][15][16] Custodianship passed to theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 2003 and they took possession of the building in 2005.[5][15][16]
In 2004 and 2006, theWorld Monuments Fund included the historic buildings of Dalhousie Square on itsWorld Monuments Watch to garner funding and support for local conservationists to preserve the square's buildings.[7][26] Propelled by this watch-listing, theGovernment of West Bengal promised to preserve the district's buildings.[7][26] In 2009, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation approved a graded list of historic landmarks, which listed the Currency Building as a Grade I heritage building.[27]
ASI was entrusted with the Currency Building's conservation and restoration, which was led by a technical team of engineers and archaeologists.[5][15][16] It took two years to remove demolition debris and then commence the building's restoration by repairing and reconstructing the demolished portions around the building's central hall.[16] The project was delayed due to a shortage of workers skilled inlime plastering.[16] By 2019, ASI had an exhibition space and bookshop in the Currency Building.[4]
Following the building's restoration, the Currency Building hosted ajute and silk exhibition organized by India's National Jute Board in 2019.[5] On 11 January 2020,Prime Minister of IndiaNarendra Modi formally dedicated the Currency Building as a public museum to the nation at its reopening ceremony.[15] It was one of four restored colonial buildings in Kolkata to be dedicated by Modi, along withMetcalfe Hall,Belvedere House, and theVictoria Memorial.[1][25][28]
The building's reopening marked the start of its inaugural art exhibition,Ghare Baire | The World, The Home and Beyond: 18th-20th Century Art in Bengal, which opened on 12 January 2020.[3][15] The exhibition was commissioned by India'sMinistry of Culture, and was organised and curated by DAG Museums—a private art curation and education organisation—in collaboration with theNational Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA).[3][15] According to DAG, the exhibition was "the first comprehensive showcasing of the art and artists ofBengal".[3] Entry to the exhibition is free.[15] The museum and exhibition were briefly closed due to theCoronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.[15] In February 2021, two works ofAbdur Rahman Chughtai, considered Pakistan's national artist, were displayed for the first time at the Currency Building as part of theGhare Baire exhibit.[29][30] In January 2021, the Currency Building also served as an event space for talks given as part of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival 2021.[31]
The Currency Building is a three-story brick structure, built in theItalianate style of architecture.[14][19] The building's arched roof is supported by ironjoists.[14][20] Its floors are covered bymarble andChunar sandstone.[14][20] The main entrance, in the west-façade, features a three-part gate made ofwrought iron,[14] andVenetian windows.[1][20][25] The building's central hall, now an open-air courtyard, was formerly topped by three large domes with skylights.[14][18] During the building's use as a currency office, the central hall contained the exchange counters for banknotes, gold, silver, and small change.[18][19] The second floor contained large, elaborately finished rooms withItalian marble floors.[19] The third floor also featured Italian marble floors, and housed the residence of the assistant commissioner in charge of the currency office.[14][19]
The initial plan during renovation was to construct a glass roof over the central hall where the three domes were formerly located; however, ASI cancelled this plan and reorganized the central hall into a space for open-air programmes.[5] ASI installed motion-sensor-equipped glass doors to provide access between the central hall and adjacent interior corridors;[1][5] polished the windows and doors in the western wing; repainted the exterior façade white;[5] plastered the interior walls; repaired floors; restored decaying wooden staircases;[1][16] and overhauled the drainage system to mitigate seepage from the drainage lines of adjacent buildings.[1][16] During this project, ASI archaeologists uncovered evidence of an underground canal from the nearby Hooghly River, the water from which was used to cool newly minted coins.[20]
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