Santiniketan is a famous town in West Bengal, India because of its association with Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), one of Bengal's greatest talent and first Indian Nobel Laureate in literature. It has become an important & famous tourist spot because of its growth & development in different arena such as education (School & University), art & culture through teaching and performance and exchanges those with various nation and country and excellence of other various activities introduced by Gurudeb Rabindranath in early 20th century and of course, the natural charm of Santiniketan is also a major contributing factor in it.

In February 1862, Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath, found his 'abode of peace' i.e. Santiniketan, near Bolepur, a small town in Birbhum District of West Bengal, India and started living there.

In 1901, Rabindranath started his school 'Patha Bhavan' at Santiniketan. Visva-Bharati Society was established in 1921. It gradually developed as an international university named Visva Bharati, which now a central university under the control of Govt. of India and Chancellor is always Honourable Prime Minister of India.

At the behest of Gurudeb Rabindranath, the annual Paus festival (utsav), 23-26 December, became an event where students and teachers of his school and university along with local and international reputed artists and artisans from various fields always took an active part. Paus Mela, therefore, becomes a meeting ground for urban people and rural folk.

In the year 1922, Rabindranath started a rural development centre at Sriniketan, 3 km. from Santiniketan. Later some other institutions have come up there- Palli Siksha Sadan, Silpa Sadan, Siksha Chatra etc.