State Central Library

The State Central Library, formerly known as Asafia Library, is a historic public library established in 1891 and located on the banks of the River Musi in Afzal Gunj, Hyderabad. The imposing Indo-Saracenic heritage building was completed in 1936 and houses over 500,000 books, magazines, and rare manuscripts. It serves as the apex institution of Telangana's library system and was granted heritage status by INTACH in 1998.

Visitors can explore one of India's oldest and largest public libraries housed in a grand heritage building with Indo-Saracenic architecture. The library features extensive reading rooms, underground book storage facilities, and decorative architectural elements. Visitors can access collections spanning multiple languages including English, Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, Persian, and Arabic. The library offers a quiet environment for reading, research, and studying with its vast collection of books, journals, newspapers, and rare palm-leaf manuscripts.

Established in 1891 as the personal library of scholar Moulvi Syed Hussain Bilgrami (Nawab Imadul Mulk Bahadur), it was renamed Asafia State Library in honor of the Asaf Jah dynasty. The current building was constructed between 1932-1936 under the supervision of British architect Vincent Jerome Esch, with foundation stone laid by Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1932. The construction was part of M. Visvesvaraya's proposal to redesign the Musi riverfront following the 1908 floods. The library was shifted to its present location in 1936 to mark Nizam VII's Silver Jubilee. In 1955, under the Hyderabad Public Libraries Act, it was declared the State Central Library for Hyderabad State. The building was granted heritage status by INTACH in 1998 and has been included in the 2025 World Monuments Watch compiled by World Monuments Fund.

The State Central Library serves as the apex institution of Telangana's public library system and represents an important center for knowledge preservation and dissemination. It houses culturally significant collections including rare manuscripts dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries, publications in multiple languages reflecting the region's multilingual heritage, and historical documents from the Nizam era. The library promotes literacy and learning across diverse communities in Telangana.