State Central Library

Hyderabad, India

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

The State Central Library in Hyderabad, Telangana, is a public library designed by architect Vincent Esch and built in 1891, originally located in Abids before being relocated to its present site in the Afzal Gunj area on the banks of the River Musi in 1936. Constructed in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style, the building has become one of the city's most imposing structures and was granted heritage status by INTACH in 1998; it was further recognized in 2025 by the World Monuments Fund's World Monuments Watch list. The library occupies approximately 72,247 square yards and houses half a million books and magazines, including rare palm-leaf manuscripts, serving as the apex institution of Telangana's library system. The building faces significant conservation challenges, with poor maintenance and inadequate infrastructure affecting both the physical structure and the cataloguing of its collections.