College Street (Kolkata)

College Street
Boi Para (Books Neighborhood)
Book stores and tram tracks along College Street
Native nameকলেজ স্ট্রিট (Bengali)
Maintained byKolkata Municipal Corporation
Length0.9 km (0.56 mi)[1]
LocationKolkata, India
Postal code700012, 700073
Nearest Kolkata Metro stationMG Road, Central and Sealdah
Coordinates22°34′32″N 88°21′48″E / 22.575514°N 88.363354°E / 22.575514; 88.363354
North endBidhan Sarani
South endBowbazar

College Street (Bengali: কলেজ স্ট্রিট) is a 900 metre long street in Central Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. Also known as Boi Para (Bengali: বইপাড়া; lit. Book Town), it stretches from Bidhan Sarani road up to Bowbazar (before Nirmal Chandra Street) via MG Road crossing and Surya Sen Street crossing.[1][2] Its name derives from the presence of numerous colleges and universities like University of Calcutta, Calcutta Medical College, Presidency University, The Sanskrit College and University, City College of Commerce and Business Administration etc. The road houses many centres of intellectual activity especially the Indian Coffee House, a café that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades.[3] College Street is the largest book market in India as well as Asia[4] and the largest secondhand book market in the whole world.[5]

  1. ^ a b Google maps
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference heritagetour was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Kolkata Heritage- College Street Archived 2013-09-02 at the Wayback Machine westbengaltourism.gov.in. Retrieved 24 March 2013
  4. ^ "Cyclone Amphan wipes out Asia's largest book market, College Street, in Kolkata - Business Insider India". www.businessinsider.in. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020.
  5. ^ "The World's Largest Secondhand Book Market is in Kolkata, India". 23 March 2016.