Victoria Memorial
Built in 1912 with the white marble, in memory of Queen Victoria, is
one of Calcutta's most beautiful monumental legacies from the Raj. The
Prince of Wales inaugurated it. With beautiful garden grounds, the
Victoria memorial houses a large bronze statue of the Queen Empress,
besides paintings, Manu- scripts and other objects of historic values in
its Museum and Art Gallery.
The white marble building at the Southern end of
Calcutta's maidan continues to be the city's pride and joy. The Victoria
Memorial, with its formal gardens and water courses was conceived by
Lord Curzon to commemorate the British Empire at its peak. Other
colonial monuments within the city have either been obliterated with
time or have been renamed or demolished. But the popularity of the "VM"
seems to endure for ever.
The Memorial consists of numerous hybrid features: it has Italian-style
statues over its entrances, Mughal domes in its corners and tall elegant
open colonnades along its sides. The building was designed by Sir
William Emerson and its construction was completed in 1921. The main
attraction at the memorial is the huge sombre statue of the Queen, which
is flanked by two ornamental tanks. Made of Makrana marble from Jodhpur,
the Memorial is capped by a dome bearing a revolving bronze figurine
symbolizing victory.
