State Central Library, Cubbon Park

Worth seeing when you're there

• The approach through the rose garden, the best photograph in the park.
• The red brick and the memorial lettering: this is the Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall.
• The reading room inside, free and silent; keep voices down and phones away.
• The bamboo groves and rain trees around it, some older than any building in sight.

A little history

Raised in 1915 in striking red brick to honour Sir K. Seshadri Iyer, Dewan of Mysore for 18 years, whose tenure brought electric streetlights, water works and the park itself. It shelters over 300,000 books, including centuries-old manuscripts: the city's intellectual memory, preserved inside its green lung.

Getting there, hours, cost

Inside Cubbon Park, between the High Court and the Maharaja's statue; about ten minutes on foot from either Vidhana Soudha or Cubbon Park Metro. The exterior is viewable whenever the park is open.

Open

8:30 AM to 7:30 PM

Closed

Mondays, the 2nd Tuesday of the month, public holidays

Cost

Free reading room

Note

Exterior viewable whenever the park is open, 6 AM to 6 PM.

Hours change. Recheck official sources close to your date. Navigate here · Trail map

Nearby: eat, see, rest

• Cafe Coffee Day, The Square Café · 6 min on foot
• Konark Kanteerava South Indian meals · 6 min on foot
• Venkatappa Art Gallery Gallery · 6 min on foot
• Government Museum, Kasturba Road Museum · 7 min on foot

More on the trail map and in A Cubbon Park walk.