Secret Chamber Found In India National Library

Belvedere House in Calcutta has a long and storied history. For years, during the Raj, the British Governor General lived there. The first was Warren Hastings in the 1760's. After the British capital was moved to New Delhi, a series of Lt. Governors lived there. Since independence, it has housed the Indian National Library.

The house is undergoing restoration now, and Archeologists have made a mysterious discovery, a 1000 square foot room, with no entrance. From the Times of India.

"We've searched every inch of the first floor area that forms the ceiling of this enclosure for a possible trap door. But found nothing. Restoration of the building will remain incomplete if we are not able to assess what lies inside this enclosure," said deputy superintending archaeologist of ASI, Tapan Bhattacharya. "We've come across an arch on one side of the enclosure that had been walled up. Naturally speculations are rife," said another archaeologist. Was it used as a punishment room by Hastings or one of the Lt Governors who succeeded him? It was common practice among the British to "wall up" offenders in "death chambers". Some sources say this enclosure has exactly the same look and feel. The British were also known to hide riches in blind chambers as this.

They are currently waiting on permission from the Ministry of Culture to drill a hole in the wall for a look inside.