THE GATEWAY OF INDIA Apollo Pier is called the Gateway of India. It was built in the memory of the late King George V and Queen Mary to commensurate their visit in December 1911. It is one of the favorite evening resorts. Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Swami Vivekanand have been installed just opposite the Gateway of India. George Wittet, consulting architect to the city of Bombay, was the designer of the last great building of the British rule in Bombay, the Gateway of India. It was intended as a triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of George V and Queen Mary in 1911, en route to the Delhi Durbar. The arch of the Gateway was actually a part of a much wider scheme which Wittet intended for the area, but it never came to fruition. As a result, it today looks a little isolated and unaligned with the axis of the former Yacht Club. These architectural imperfections are lost on the casual visitor and are visible only to the discerning eye. Historically, the Gateway of India remains the spot where almost 300 years of colonialism ended and where the last British troops departed from, a slow setting of the sun over the British Empire.
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THE GATEWAY OF INDIA
Apollo Pier is called the Gateway of India. It was
built in the memory of the late King George V and
Queen Mary to commensurate their visit in
December 1911. It is one of the favorite evening
resorts. Statues of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and
Swami Vivekanand have been installed just opposite
the Gateway of India. George Wittet, consulting
architect to the city of Bombay, was the designer of
the last great building of the British rule in
Bombay, the Gateway of India. It was intended as a
triumphal arch to commemorate the visit of George
V and Queen Mary in 1911, en route to the Delhi
Durbar. The arch of the Gateway was actually a part
of a much wider scheme which Wittet intended for
the area, but it never came to fruition. As a result,
it today looks a little isolated and unaligned with
the axis of the former Yacht Club. These
architectural imperfections are lost on the casual
visitor and are visible only to the discerning eye.
Historically, the Gateway of India remains the spot
where almost 300 years of colonialism ended and
where the last British troops departed from, a slow
setting of the sun over the British Empire.
Gateway of India in Mumbai was built in the Indo-
saracenic style to commemorate the visit of King
George V and Queen Mary to Bombay in 1911. The
design of George Wittet was sanctioned by the
Indian Government in 1914. The foundations of the
project that cost Rs 21 lakh, was complete in 1920.
The Viceroy, Earl of Reading inaugurated the
gateway in Mumbai on December 4, 1924. However,
the approach road to the gateway built from yellow
Kharodi basalt and concrete, could not be laid due
to alleged lack of funds and thus it stands in an
angle on the road that leads to it.
Features of Gateway of India in Mumbai
- Though built in the Indo-saracenic style, the
gateway imbibes local style of architecture as well
as that of the Muslims of Gujarat.
-The central dome of Gateway of India in Mumbai,
is 48 feet in diameter and 83 feet high at the
highest point.
-The whole harbour front was relaid so that it would
sweep down to the centre of the town.
-The gateway has four turrets and is designed with
intricate latticework.
THE PRINCE OF WALES MUSEUM:-
Amid the hustle and bustle of Mumbai stand some
stately buildings, remnants of the British Raj.
Among them is that of the Prince of Wales Museum,
named after Prince George (Later George V) who
visited India in 1905 and laid the foundation stone
of the building. Not far from the museum, its
architect George Wittet also built the famous
Gateway of India on the seafront, near the Taj
Mahal Hotel. Through the arch the Prince made his
royal entrance to India as King George V for the
Delhi Darbar in 1911.
HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM
Designed by George Wittet, the foundation stone
was laid in 1905 by the visiting Prince of Wales. The
building was completed in 1914, converted to a
military hospital during the World War I, and
Finally opened in 1923 by Lady Lloyd, the wife of Sir
George Lloyd, the then governor.
The Exquisite Indo-Saracenic Architectural Style
Built in the Indo-Saracenic style, the facing is done
in yellow and blue stones quarried from the
Mumbai region. The dome is modeled after the Gol
Gumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka.
It incorporates a variety of details from different
Indian styles, small bulbous cupolas on towers,
Saracenic arches with Muslim ‘Jalis’ as fillers, semi-
open verandahs and Rajput ‘Jharokhas’.
The structure forms a long rectangle of three
storeys, raised in the Centre to accommodate the
entrance porch. Above the central arched entrance
rises a huge dome, tiled in white and blue flecks,
supported on a lotus- petal base. Around the dome
is an array of pinnacles, each topped by a miniature
dome. Indian motifs such as brackets and
protruding eaves are combined with so-called
Islamic arches and tiny domes.
The plan of the Museum is simple, with a central
hall from which the staircase leads to the two upper
floors with galleries branching out on the right and
left. An extension on the right-hand side of the
main building (as you stand facing its front
entrance) houses the natural history section. The
second floor houses the Indian miniature painting
gallery, the pride of the museum, and next to it are
the galleries of decorative art and, to the left of the
central well of the staircase, the gallery of Tibetan
and Nepali art.
EUROPEAN PAINTING, ARMOURY AND
TEXTILE GALLERIES.
Galleries in the Museum. There’s a lot to see in the
Prince of Wales Museum and one will be doing
oneself a disservice if one rushes to see it all in one
go. To walk around the key gallery is like
experiencing 5,000 years of Indian art in a capsule.
THE MINIATURE PAINTINGS
An excellent collection of Indian miniature
paintings occupies much of the second floor, but
they are poorly presented apart from those display
in helpful thematic groups. This floor also has fine
examples of Nepalese and Tibetan art, including a
beautiful 12th century Maitreya, with his head
surrounded by a halo, slightly inclined. The gentle,
sensuous curves of the torso are draped in
garments and jeweled chains to suggest texture and
movement. The Tata family, a large industrial house
with interests in the sciences and the arts, donated
the collection displayed in the Nepal and Tibet
gallery. The Buddhist and Hindu images in metal
are gilded, and studded with gems. Statuettes of
Tara, the Buddhist goddess of compassion,
Vajradhara, Lord of the Thunderbolt, and of
Lakshmi Narayana are studded with turquoise, ruby
and diamond. Most beautiful of all is tiny
Avalokitesvara from Nepal, of the 17th centuries.
SHOWCASING INDIAN PRE-HISTORY
On the mezzanine level, there’s a small gallery
devoted to Indian prehistory and pro to history. It
consists largely of primitive tools and ornaments
excavated by Sir John Marshall in Mohenjodaro in
1922.
THE GROUND FLOOR GALLERY
In the ground floor gallery are impressive local
sculptures from Elephanta Island, Parel, Thane and
Jogeshwari. The Elephonta sculptures include a
composed four-headed Brahma, a dramatic portion
of the Buffalo Demon being killed by Devi, and a
fragment of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati
accompanied by a splendid dwarf.
THE NATURAL HISTORY SECTION
The Natural History Section was added to the
museum from the collection of the Bombay Natural
History Society. This section on the ground floor
has a large selection of Indian birds, a low-tech but
educational exhibit on snakes, and stuffed examples
of the usual suspects ranging from rhinos to
monkeys and lions to deer. The highlight is
definitely the freakish 20-foot-long Saw Fish that
must have shocked fishermen when they hauled it
up in their nets in the waters off Government House
in 1938. All the exhibits are well labeled.
CHHATRAPATI SHAVAJI TERMINUS –
VICTORIA TERMINUS
Popularly known as Bori Bunder, and previously
also called as a Victoria Terminus (VT), a new
terminus for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, at
the time the largest and most extensive
architectural work in India. This massive Italian
Gothic style building was built in 1888. It is one of
the biggest railway terminus of the East. It is the
terminus or last stop or the starting of the Central
Railway (CR) trains. Nearby this you will find a
buildings of Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation,
General Post Office (GPO), Times of India etc. The
Victoria Terminus station is the finest example of
Victorian Gothic architecture in India. It was
inspired by Sir George Gilbert Scott St. Pancras
Station in London, and was erected between 1878
and 1887. It is highly original though rooted firmly
in the tradition of Scott, Ruskin, and Burges. The
building epitomises the spirit of the age and it
stands as a pane of praise to the railway, which
more than any other factor was a catalyst in the rise
of Mumbai. The Terminus is a symmetrical building
and is surmounted by a colossal masonry dome.
Beneath the dome, the stairs rise in solemn sweeps
to each floor.
The booking hall is spanned by pointed arches with
wooden vaulted ceilings, decorated with stars on an
azure background. The lower part of the wall is clad
in glazed tiles of rich foliated designs. The windows
are filled with stained glass or ornamental wrought
iron grille-work, to reduce the sun’s glare. The
whole Terminus cost a wondrous 250,000 pounds.
In the corridor at the entrance leading to the main
hall, the vaulting has richly carved animals. The
enormous 14-foot high statue of Progress crowning
the dome is the work of Thomas Earp, as are the
richly carved stone medallions which adorn the
front elevation. Victoria Terminus, now called
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, is a sensation in
architecture, both in perspective and in detail.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus formerly Victoria
Terminus with its cathedral like facade is located at
Dr.D.Naoroji Road, Nagar Chowk on the eastern
shoreline of Mumbai. Declared as a World Heritage
Site by the UNESCO on July 2, 2004, the train
station is Mumbai's historical landmark and also a
symbol of the city's Gothic buildings. The Terminus
is the 2nd 'World Heritage Site' of the Indian
Railways after the Darjeeling Himalayan Railways
which was inscribed in 1988, and the first
functional administrative building to be put on the
World Heritage list.
Built in 1888 as the headquarters of the Great
Indian Peninsular Railway Company, Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus is also the western most end point
of the Central Railways. Designed by Frederick
William Stevens, a British architect, the building is
a wonderful example of the Indo-Victorian Gothic
Revival architectural style. The railway station was
opened to the public on New Year's Day, 1882.
Today, at least 1250 trains leave the station every
day from its 14 platforms, carrying some 3.3
million passengers in and out of the city. It is the
hub of the suburban (local) railways as well as some
of the long distance trains. A major part of the
building houses the administrative section of the
Central Railways.
Construction of the Terminus began in 1878 and
was completed after 10 years in May 1888 at a cost
of Rs. 16.14 lakhs (Rs. 1.614 million). In 1853, it
was from this station that India's very first steam
engine left for its first trip to Thane. Initially named
as 'Victoria Terminus' in honour of the reigning
Queen Victoria, in 1996 it was renamed Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus honoring the great 17th century
Maratha King, by the State Government of
Maharastra. It is now commonly known as CST
though the old name VT or Victoria Terminus, is
still commonly used.
Built in local sandstone, with a combination of the
English Venetian Gothic style endorsed with
elements of Indian Architecture, the terminus
interior is very impressive with vaulted roofs,
arches, Gothic spires, neoclassical sculptures, stone
carvings, exquisite friezes etc. The frontage of the
terminus is symmetrical with a massive central
dome and a number of smaller domes and conical
towers on the wings on either side.
The central dome bears a thirteen feet solid statue
of a woman ( 'Progress') with a flaming torch in her
right arm raised towards the sky and a spoked
wheel low in her left hand, by Thomas Earp, an
architectural carver who also carved the Imperial
lion and the Indian tiger on the gate piers in the
front. Beneath this dome are the stairs to each
floor. A life-size statue of Queen Victoria is placed
in front of the central facade. The other statues
include one representing 'Agriculture' on the
central gable (triangular upper part of a wall at the
end of a ridged roof) on the south side and on each
of the two gables in the wings of the west facade
representing 'Engineering & Science' and 'Shipping
& Commerce'. A large clock of diameter 3.19
meters on the tower of the terminus is another
attractive feature.
There are bas relief's of the 10 directors of the
Great Indian Peninsular Railway Company on the
facade. Ornamented panels displaying peacocks,
monkeys, elephants and British lions are mixed up
among the buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and
stained glass windows that are rich in primary
colours. There are four gateways to the main
entrance and the rectangular yard in front,
maintains an ornamental garden on one side.The
wood carving, tiles, ornamental iron and brass
railings, grills for the ticket offices, the balustrades
for the grand staircases and other ornaments etc
were the work of students at the Bombay School of
Art. The cantilevered staircase that leads to the
dome, the large spacious booking hall with its
pointed arcades, glazed tiles, stained glass and
wooden vaulted ceilings inspired by London's St.
Pancras station, the Star Chamber (the ticketing
office for the local service) are fine examples of art
and engineering.
The increased traffic and pollution have damaged
this historic building's former glory, but the Central
Railway has earmarked a substantial amount for its
restoration and conservation process. Some
additions and changes were made to the building as
part of the expansion and reorganisation of the
Indian Railways in the 1960s and 1970s by the
Central Railways, mainly to accommodate an
increasing staff strength. But in 1980, as part of
the conservation process the number of staff
occupying the building has been reduced.
DAVID SASSOON LIBRARY
The David Sassoon Library houses one of the oldest
living Library and Reading rooms in use in Mumbai.
Members of all age groups visit it as it is
conveniently located in the Fort Area in an old
business district in the city of Mumbai. The Library
has been listed as a Grade heritage structure within
the Fort precinct and the Museum sub-precinct as
per the Heritage Regulations of the Mumbai
Municipal Corporation (1995).
A group of young mechanics and foremen of the
Royal Mint and Government Dockyard established a
museum and library for mechanical models and
architectural design, in 1847, which led to the
creation of the Sassoon Library. In 1863, Sir David
Sassoon, a leading banker of Mumbai, contributed
Rs.60,000/- to the government to build a
Mechanic's Institute, now called the David Sassoon
Library. This Venetian Gothic styled structure,
completed in 1870, forms part of an important
ensemble of buildings, that are crucial for the
image of the Fort Area.
The library today still boasts of growing
membership. It houses a large collection of very
rare old books. The reading room is frequented
often by working students due to its convenient
location in the heart of the business district.
In 1996, on the occasion of its 150 Anniversary, an
extensive fund-raising exercise was undertaken for
the first major restoration efforts carried out to the
Library. The Restoration process dealt largely with
undoing the damages caused to the building with
all the additions urgent restoration tasks were
attended to. However, it was found that after eight
years many of the unattended areas needed urgent
attention. Hence, rather than the earlier
fragmented approach, there is a need to collect a
sufficient corpus for restoration and work towards a
comprehensive restoration program for the Library.
It would ensure that all the restoration tasks are
attended to and carried out under strict supervision
of the consultants within a structured time frame.
The Phase ll works include restoration of the library
building, and improving its functioning. As this
would be a long-term undertaking, the Library has
decided to proceed initially with the external
restoration works only, and subsequently taken on
other works related to restoration and library
expansion.
Salient Features
One of the oldest libraries in the city. The institute
is rendering dedicated services in the field of
academic, cultural and social development to the
people of Mumbai.
The library's main assets are the rare books. Some
of the books in the library's treasure are published
way back in the year 1798.
The library has recently set up an art gallery near
the entrance of the building to encourage young,
upcoming, talented artists to exhibit their art
materials.
It would not be exaggerating to state that the
library has become a place of tourist attraction
considering the regular visits of many foreign and
Indian tourists.
A unique and most enchanting feature of the library
is a very well maintained garden in its backyard. It
is a 'green lung' amidst the vibrant and crowded
commercial area
The Asiatic library
The aims and objects of the Society as envisaged
when it was set up in 1804 was " to promote useful
knowledge particularly such as is now immediately
connected with India." Thereafter in 1954 and 1995
the aims and objects were revised without prejudice
to the above.
The Asiatic Society of Mumbai forms part of the
network of institutions created by the British to
generate, systematize and disseminate knowledge
of India and Orient: a vast and cumulative body of
information, learning and knowledge which became
constituted into the field of Indology. It was
encyclopaedic in its scope, embracing diverse areas
like numismatics, epigraphy, anthropology, history,