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KOLKATA, INDIA Friday, October 01, 2004: Kolkata has added another glory to its cultural heritage. Just before the Puja, the renovated ancestral home of Swami Vivekananda at 3, Gourmohan Mukherjee Street, in North Kolkata, was opened to the public amidst much fervor and devotion and the cultural centre adjoining has been formally inaugurated by the President of India, Shri A.P. J. Abdul Kalam. It took five years to complete the restoration work of Swami Vivekananda’s house in to a memorial cum museum. Swamiji was born in this house on January 12, 1863 as the eldest son, Narendranath of Viswanath Dutta and Bhubaneswari Devi, a wealthy family of the city. His great-grandfather Rammohan Dutta originally built the house. The Centre, the State government as well as public donation to Ramakrishna Mission, funded the US$4.5 million restoration project in which the Central grant was $US2.2 million. An eminent British historian has described Swami Vivekananda as “one of the main molders of the modern world.” Indeed, many thought processes and social attributes of the 20th century show direct or indirect influence of Swamiji, although it may not have been always recognized as such. He was essentially a man without frontiers and must be honored as one of the architects of global unity in the years to come. The present generation is fortunate enough to be able to maintain his birthplace as a heritage building.

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