Victoria Memorial, Kolkata

Empress Victoria

Following the death of Empress Victoria in January 1901,[2] Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, suggested that a fitting memorial to the late Queen-Empress should be created in Calcutta, now called Kolkata, then the capital of India. He proposed the construction of a grand building with a museum and gardens.[3] Curzon said,

"Let us, therefore, have a building, stately, spacious, monumental and grand, to which every newcomer in Calcutta will turn, to which all the resident population, European and Native, will flock, where all classes will learn the lessons of history and see revived before their eyes the marvels of the past."[4]

The government officials, princes, politicians, and people of India responded generously to Lord Curzon's appeal for funds, and the total cost of construction of the monument, amounting to one crore, five lakhs of Rupees, was entirely derived from their voluntary subscriptions.[5][4]

The site chosen was near the present-day Raj Bhavan, known at the time as Government House. The construction of the Victoria Memorial was delayed by Curzon's departure from India in 1905, with a subsequent loss of local enthusiasm for the project. There was also some uncertainty about the strength of the foundations, and tests on them were carried out.[6] On 4 January 1906, the new Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone.[7]

The work of construction was entrusted to Messrs. Martin & Co. of Calcutta, and work on the superstructure began in 1910.[7]

In 1912, before construction was finished, George V, the then Emperor of India, announced the transfer of the capital of India from Calcutta to New Delhi.[8] Thus, the Victoria Memorial came to stand in what would be a major provincial capital, rather than the national capital.

The Victoria Memorial was completed and formally opened to the public in 1921.[6][7]

After 1947, some additions were made to the Memorial.

A smaller Victoria memorial was also constructed in the Hardoi District, which has since been converted into a city club for recreation. Mahatma Gandhi addressed meetings at Hardoi in the 1930s.

Queen Victoria's statue inside the memorial

The architect of the Victoria Memorial was William Emerson (1843–1924).[9][10] The design is in the Indo-Saracenic revivalist style which uses a mixture of British and Mughal elements with Venetian, Egyptian, Deccani architectural influences.[11] The building is 338 by 228 feet (103 by 69 m) and rises to a height of 184 feet (56 m). It is constructed of white Makrana marble.[12] The gardens of the Victoria Memorial were designed by Lord Redesdale and David Prain. Emerson's assistant, Vincent Jerome Esch, designed the bridge of the north aspect and the garden gates. In 1902, Emerson engaged Esch to sketch his original design for the Victoria Memorial.

On top of the central dome of the Memorial is the 16 ft (4.9 m) figure of the Angel of Victory. Surrounding the dome are allegorical sculptures including Art, Architecture, Justice, and Charity and above the North Porch are Motherhood, Prudence and Learning.

The Victoria Memorial is built of white Makrana marble.[12] In design it echoes the Taj Mahal with its dome, four subsidiaries, octagonal-domed chattris, high portals, terrace, and domed corner towers.

The Angel of Victory, on top of the Memorial

The Victoria Memorial has 25 galleries.[13] These include the royal gallery, the national leader's gallery, the portrait gallery, central hall, the sculpture gallery, the arms and armory gallery, and the newer, Kolkata gallery. The Victoria Memorial has the largest single collection of the works of Thomas Daniell (1749–1840) and his nephew, William Daniell (1769–1837).[14] It also has a collection of rare and antiquarian books such as the illustrated works of William Shakespeare, the Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam as well as books about kathak dance and thumri music by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. However, the galleries and their exhibitions, the programmatic elements of the memorial do not compete with the purely architectural spaces or voids.[15][16]

Statue of Lord Curzon

Victoria Memorial gardens

The gardens at the Victoria memorial cover 64 acres (260,000 m²) and are maintained by a team of 21 gardeners. They were designed by Redesdale and David Prain. On Esch's bridge, between narrative panels by Goscombe John, there is a bronze statue of Victoria, by George Frampton. Empress Victoria is seated on her throne. In the paved quadrangles and elsewhere around the building, other statues commemorate Hastings, Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, Robert Clive, Arthur Wellesley, and James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie. To the south of the Victoria, Memorial building is the Edward VII memorial arch. The arch has a bronze equestrian statue of Edward VII by Bertram Mackennal and a marble statue of Curzon by F. W. Pomeroy. The garden also contains statues of Lord William Bentinck, governor-general of India (1833–1835), George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, governor-general of India (1880–84), and Rajendra Nath Mookerjee, a pioneer industrialist of Bengal.[4] Following an order of the West Bengal High Court in 2004, an entry fee was imposed for the gardens, a decision welcomed by the general public except for few voices of dissent.[21]

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  Victoria Memorial with St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata, in the foreground.
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  Victoria Memorial illuminated at night.
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  Victoria Memorial Illuminated at night
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  Summer sunset
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  Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
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  Lakes of victoria
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  The moon and Angel of Victory at Victoria Memorial
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  South side
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  King Edward VII Arch in the Victoria Memorial Gardens.
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  Queen Victoria
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  Lion statue at Victoria Memorial
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  Victoria Memorial and The 42.
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  A sculpture of a Mother holding a child in one hand and a sword in the other hand
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  Statue of Motherhood
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  Gallery under the dome with scenes from the life of Queen Victoria: 1. The Apotheosis
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  2. Jubilee Service at Westminster Abbey
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  3. Diamond Jubilee Service at St Paul's Cathedral
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  4. Lying in State

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kolkata/Maidan.

• Official website
• "360 degree spherical panoramas of Victoria Memorial." India Tourism.