Monumento all'Indiano, Florence

The Monumento all'Indiano or Monument to the Indian, more specifically "Monument to the Maratha Maharajah of Kolhapur, Rajaram Chhatrapati" consisting of a chhatri or small raised dome, in Italian terms a baldacchino, over the bust of the Indian prince, at the west end of the Parco delle Cascine in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.[1]

Monumento all'Indiano
Monumento all'Indiano
43°47′25.59″N 11°11′52.18″E
LocationParco delle Cascine, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
DesignerCharles Francis Fuller
TypeMonument
Dedicated toMaratha Maharajah of Kolhapur, Rajaram Chhatrapati

Description

This is an unusual monument attached to an unusual event. In 1870, returning from London after paying his respects to Queen Victoria, the 21-year-old Maharajah Rajaram II died from a febrile illness in his hotel room in the "La Pace Hotel".[2] His courtiers asked to conduct a cremation, or Antyesti ceremony, at the confluence of two rivers. They were able to perform a ceremony at the confluence of the Arno and stream of the Mugnone, near this site in the park. The events and the ceremony elicited a great deal of curiosity in the public.

The act of cremation, banned in Florence, led to a fierce argument among doctors and scientists as to the merits and morals of the funeral technique.[3] The costs of the monument were financed by the British government, who employed the sculptor Charles Francis Fuller, who used an Indian form in a version of Indo-Saracenic architecture. The base has inscriptions in English, Italian, Hindi, and Punjabi.[4]

In 1972, a modern bridge was built near the site and takes the name of Ponte all'Indiano.[5]

References
  1. "Room Service: The St Regis, Florence". Independent.co.uk. 14 December 2013.
  2. Now known as the Grando Hotel in Piazza Ognissanti.
  3. Annali universali di medicina, Volume 268, edited by Carlo Giuseppe Annibale Omodei, Carlo Ampelio Calderini, Romolo Griffini, (1884) page 206.
  4. Atti, Acts of the Communal Council of Florence, (1874): pages 8–9.
  5. Toscana, by Remo Carulli, Alessandro Agostinelli, Sara Fiorillo, entry on memorial (2015).
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