Banaras Hindu University is one of the largest residential universities in Asia, founded in 1916 by Madan Mohan Malaviya. Its campus is a city within a city — vast, green, and architecturally distinguished. The New Vishwanath Temple on the campus (often called the Birla Temple, funded by the Birla family) is a towering white marble temple modelled on the original Kashi Vishwanath and open to all visitors regardless of religion — a deliberate and unusual policy in a city where most major temples restrict non-Hindu entry.
The campus also contains the Bharat Kala Bhavan museum, one of the best art museums in Uttar Pradesh: a comprehensive collection of miniature paintings, sculptures, ancient coins, and textiles. The university area of the city — around Assi Ghat and Lanka — has a relaxed, academic atmosphere with good bookshops, inexpensive food, and a large population of both Indian and foreign students.