The Kanika Bandyopadhyay Memorial Archive and Museum was inaugurated on Wednesday in Santiniketan.

It has come up on a portion of her residence, Anandadhara.

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Chandranath Sinha, chairman of Santiniketan Sriniketan Development Authority, Supriya Tagore, Kalpika Mukhopadhyay, Bithika Mukhopadhyay, Manju Bandyopadhyay, Priyam Mukhopadhyay, Ritapa Bhattacharya, Saikat Sinha Roy were present among others at the inaugural function.

Mr Sinha announced that the road in front of her residence would be renamed after her. It was Rabindranath, who changed her name from Anima to Kanika. She was popularly known as Mohor by her friends, acquaintances and admirers. Her birth centenary is being celebrated across the globe.

People can visit the archive and museum from 1 September.

The archive-cum-museum is the result of the initiative taken by singers Priyam Mukhipadhyay and Ritapa Bhattacharya and donations received from some people.

The exhibits at the archive and museum included Kanika Bandyopadhyay’s personal belongings, her world of music, photos, books and awards. Bandyopadhyay was very shy and avoided any kind of publicity.

Her house in Andrews Palli had been visited by Lata Mangeshkar, pandit Ravi Shankar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, Suchitra Mitra, among others. Satyajit Ray had visited her house to rehearse a song which was used in his last film Agantuk.

Ritapa Bhattacharya said once a visitor enters the museum, the first room is called Naivedya Nibedan then comes Ganer Bhuban and moves to Nirjan Ekaker Gaan.

The museum will remain open six days a week from 10 am to 5 pm. Coffee and curio shops are likely to come up shortly.