RBU to soon open doors of gallery dedicated to Tagore’s Italy visits

Kolkata: A permanent gallery dedicated to the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s visits to Italy will be unveiled at the Jorasanko Campus of Rabindra Bharati University (RBU) on Monday.

Tagore had visited Italy thrice in 1878, 1925 and then again in 1926. Dr Gianluca Rubagotti, Consul General of Italy in Kolkata along with interim vice-chancellor (V-C) of the university, Subhro Kamal Mukherjee will inaugurate the gallery.

Italy is said to be the first European country that Tagore visited in 1878 at an early age of 17. It was only a stop-over on his way to England. Preceded by his fame as a Nobel laureate, he returned to Italy again from January 19 to February 2, 1925 and then again from May 30 to June 22

in 1926.

There will be a display of photographs, Italian newspaper clippings, documents and Tagore’s handwritten messages. Tagore had penned a poem about his experience there which would also find a place in the gallery.

During his first visit to Rome, the bard stayed at the Grand Hotel, now the Ritz. The windows of the Jorasanko Museum will resemble those of the hotel. The RBU in February had signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Consulate of Italy in Kolkata for establishing such a gallery.

“The gallery has been made as a part of the Indo-Italy friendship programme,” a spokesperson of RBU said. The Italian Consulate in Kolkata has borne the expenses of the construction of this gallery and the installations of the exhibits. The Jorasanko Thakurbari already boasts of five galleries commemorating Tagore’s visit to countries such as Japan, Hungary, China, Thailand etc.