Kalighat

The best known of Mother Teresa’s many homes and clinics, is Nirmal Hriday in Kolkata, which is a hospice for destitutes. In the face of local resistance, Mother Teresa chose its site at Kalighat – Kolkata’s most important centre of Hinduism – in the knowledge that many of the poor specifically come here to die, next to a holy crossing-place. However, the area's most famous landmark is the temple dedicated to the goddess Kali. The temple itself is hidden behind narrow alleys lined with shops, and generally thronging with devotees throughout the year. In the 19th-century, the neighbourhood around the temple also gave rise to the Kalighat school of painting.