Kolkata, March 6 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday inaugurated a sprawling, world-class establishment here to nurture the pursuit of visual arts, under the aegis of maestros.

Located in the satellite township of Rajarhat, in the eastern part of the city, the 125,000 square feet Art Acre campus, the second such campus, is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for holding exhibitions, seminars, conferences and events.

Designed like a self-contained, mini-city, it has spaces for artists to explore various streams of visual arts including pottery, printmaking, calligraphy and digital photography among others.

"Let this Arts Acre herald the era of renaissance in Bengal. Let artists in Bengal get their due respect," Banerjee said at the opening.

The first Art Acre campus came up in 1987 in north Kolkata. The foundation stone was laid by sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar in 1984. It was inaugurated by Nobel laureate Gunter Grass.

Artist Shuvaprasanna is the brain behind the project. Experts from diverse arts field would visit the facility to share insights with budding artists.