There stands on the Strand Road, facing the Hooghly, an old and yellowish dilapidated building with its imposing frontage designed as a replica of the Temple of Minerva in Athens. Kolkata's old Silver Mint, a land mark that has seen the city change dramatically over the past 184 years. The peeling plaster of the walls and wild growth of plants fail to veil the grandeur of the Doric columns of the Mint. 
Giving company to this grand structure is the historic Tagore Castle at Pathuriaghata, which was built by Darpanarayan Tagore, great grandfather of Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore of Jorasanko Thakurbari which was located in its vicinity. In the early years of 1800s, this area used to be bustling with commercial activities of street vendors and traders. In those days, Tagore Castle, Jorasanko Thakurbari, and at some little distance, Sovabazar Rajbari- all located on the embankment of the hooghly- attracted a great deal of public interest.
But nowadays, except Jorasanko, the birth place of Tagore, all these buildings are in bad shape. It was said that Raja Nabakrishna of Sovabazar, Prince Dwarakanath Tagore of Jorasanko and Raja Prasanna Thakur of Pathuriaghata- the three outstanding personalities of the Bengal renaissance- had played a pioneering role in the establishment of the old Silver Mint in the Business area. 
The Mint was of great importance since it was the only one that produced silver coins. As many as 3,00,000 to 6,00,000 siver coins were manufactured daily. Gold, Copper and Bronze coins were also made here. The facility of manufacturing medals was also available. 
The old yellowish Greecian structure that was once the old Mint complex of Kolkata, was built on an area of 12.5 acres of land. Its foundation stone was laid in March 1824, and it became operational from 1 August 1829. It ceased to function in 1972. Official records revealed that the first mint in Calcutta was constructed in 1759.
The government undertook to protect all these places as heritages of India.
