The beautiful white facade and red-tile roofed Jubilee Hall built in 1887 houses the Orient Research Institute whose aim is to collect, preserve, compile, edit and publish rare and valuable Sanskrit and Kannada palm leaf and other manuscripts. The building is built in European style but is interspersed with Indian characteristics. It was built to commemorate the jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. And so it is only apt that such a hallowed building be used for something equally precious. Housed inside are some of the rarest of manuscripts dating back to the 11th century, dealing with a wide variety of subjects such as astronomy, astrology, botany, mathematics and other applied sciences. The 2,300-year-old Arthashastra of Kautilya, a treatise on political and economic thought is also preserved here including over 22000 bundles of manuscripts and over 70000 works.