Kolkata Race Course
Built in 1820 and was organised by the Royal Turf Club. Calcutta Race Course is one of the largest race courses in the country. Many important and prestigious racing events are held here regularly.The most important races are Queen Elizabeth Cup & the Calcutta Derby. Apart from horse races, this ground was also used for playing polo.

Time of Race
The horse race starts in the month of July and continues till September. It starts again in November and concludes in March. The race is generally held on Saturdays. However, it is also held on important holidays and some special occasion.

Maidan and Fort William
The Maidan, located in the middle of Calcutta, is one of the largest city parks in the world. It is 1km wide and 3km from north to south. It is bound by Strand Rd along the river to the west and by Chowringhee Rd, lined with shops, offices, hotels and eating places, to the east. The stream known as Tolly's Nullah forms its southern boundary, and here you will find a racecourse and the Victoria Memorial. In the north-west corner of the Maidan is Eden Gardens, while Raj Bhavan overlooks it from the north. Running along the west side of the park is the Hooghly River, and on the east side is Jawaharlal Nehru Rd (Chowringhee Rd).

Fort William is situated on the east bank of the river Hooghly and was named after King William III of England. It was constructed in 1781 after the unfortunate happenings of 1756 in which many British soldiers with their families were killed by Siraj-Ud-Daula. Large area around the village of Govindpur was cleared off the forests and this fort was constructed, which for some time also lent its name to the city. The fort is still in use and it can only be visited with special permission, which is hard to get. Even the trenches and deep fortifications surrounding the fort's massive walls seem to be out of bounds. It was built with a cost of 2 million. The Fort is a brick-and-mortar structure built in the shape of an irregular octagon surrounding 5 square km of which five sides look landward and three on the river, surrounded by a fosse 9 meter deep and 15 meter broad which can be flooded in times of emergency. There are six gates Chowringhee, Plassey Calcutta, Water gate St Georges and Treasury Gate. A telephone office, recreation club, canteen, cinema hall, restaurant, swimming pool and wide moat surround it. For the tourist, there is a museum housing arms and armours, swords, muskets and machine guns. Another section has photographs of the Burma campaign and of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Arsenal inside is worth visiting with a prior permission required from the Commanding Officer.

Writer's Building
Writer's Building is situated in BBD Bag, Kolkata.
A massive red building was originally built as a residence for the British East India Company's clerical and administrative staff called as writers, hence the name Writers' building. This building summarises the political revolution of Bengal. The Chief Minister's office is also located in this building. Kolkata's present Writers' Building was first started as early as 1690. Within the periphery of the old fort, the junior writers or clerks of the East India Company used to stay in mud hovels. So it came to be known as the 'Writers' Building'. On 25th June, 1695, these hovels were destroyed by a tempest. Then, the second Writers' Building was constructed inside the old fort. In 1706, the new one-storeyed brick-built building was built. The other Writers' Building stood at the place where the G.P.O. or Fairly Place stand today.
The basic works of today's Writers' Building popularly known as 'Mahakaran' was completed in 1780. Then later, Barwell, the friend of Hastings and a member of the Committee, became the owner of this house. His children, handed over it to a trustee board which in turn was again rented to the Company. The Britons started using this house as private business and for fun and frolics. So the Company began to impose many restrictions on them which resultantly made the house vacant. In fact, the Fort William College of Kolkata was also established here in 1800. The College was however shifted from there in 1830. Later in 1836, Lord Bentinck prohibited the indiscriminate use of the house for private affairs. Between 1877 - 1882, Lt. Governor Ashley Eden founded the linchpin of the Government Department at this place. The present gigantic building covers 2.8 acres of land. It is 235 yards in width. A cluster of thirteen four-storeyed buildings, the 'Mahakaran' stands on 10 acres of land. Today, at least 6000 employees work here.

National Library

The National Library, India is the largest library in the country. Housed in the former residence of the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, the library contains almost 2 million books and nearly half a million documents. It is an institution of National importance under the 'Department of Culture, Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Government of India'. The library is designated to collect, disseminate and preserve the printed material produced in the country, attracts almost a thousand readers every day. According to popular belief, this building was not built by the British. Azim - Us-Shaan is believed to have constructed it in 1700 A.D. After the Battle of Plassey, Vanceytart got charge of this Bhawan. He was an Italian who named this mammoth building 'Belvedierre'. The word connotes 'the queen of beauty'. Lady Hastings was also the owner of this house for a short while. He sold it to Major Tulley in 1780, The modern day 'Tollygunge' in Calcutta bears memoirs of Major Tulley. However, this building was put to auction after the demise of Major Tulley in 1802. In 1850, the Govt. took charge of this palatial house. Some believe that Nawab Meer Zaffar had once stayed in Belvedierre Bhawan.
The library has separate Indian language division for Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu Languages. Sanskrit language division also collects and process Pali and Prakrit books. English books published in India are also collected under D.B. Act.
Around 18 thousand readers daily gather to accumulate knowledge on various subjects. The collection comprises about 20,00,000 books and 5,00,000 manuscripts. Its gigantic campus encompasses 130 acres of land. At present, the National Library is the 2nd largest public library in Asia for which several notable persons have donated their invaluable collections at different times. Sadar-Ud-ddin, the Zaminder of Buhor, Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, Surendra Nath Sen etc. are some famous donors. These have added to the value and content of books in this prestigious institution.

Saheed Minar
The enchanting Saheed Minar of Kolkata is made on similar lines of famous Qutub Minar of Delhi and forms an important landmark of Kolkata. Popularly known as the Octerloney Monument, the minar was built in 1848 by Sir David Ochterlony to commemorate his victory in the Nepal War (1814-1816).

The construction of the monument encompasses an architectural variety. The foundation followed an Egyptian style whereas the body of the Minar and the dome resembled Syrian and Turkish designs respectively. The Minar is 158 ft. High with two balconies at the top. One can reach the balcony by using the serpentile staircase. 198 stairs lead from the bottom to the first balcony. From here 25 more stairs lead to the second balcony.

It was named Sahid Minar in 1969 in the memory of the brave patriots who sacrified their lives for the freedom of India. Different political parties convene meetings, rallies and seminars behind the Shahid Minar at present.

The custom of convening political seminars started in 1931 when a historical convocation took place here which was presided by Rabindranath Tagore. The humanitarian poet had severely condemned the vandalism of the imperialist British Government which had shot a youth dead in the Calabooze in Hizli. Few years ago, the dome of the 'Minar' was coloured which kicked off a storm of protest.

From the top of the Minar a good view of the city can be obtained but permission to ascend the tower has to be taken from the police headquarters in Lal Bazaar.