| With its
old parquet floors, spiral staircases, wrought iron
loggias, and exquisite marble statues of forgotten city
fathers, the colonnaded Town Hall is perhaps the most
regal and elegant of Mumbai's heritage buildings. It
houses the Asiatic Society, a library with a collection
of 800,000 antique volumes. One of them is a priceless
first edition copy of Dante's "Inferno." There
is also an impressive numismatic collection of over 1,000
ancient coins and a rare gold mohur belonging to the
Mughal Emperor Akbar. You need permission to look at
these treasures, but the public library is open to all
and usually draws a large number of senior citizens who
pore over the local newspapers in the fading grandeur of
its reading room. |
