The First Proposed Design of Victoria Memorial In Allahabad, 1903 print.
Close up view of the print’s title
Close up of the caption
Old 1903 print showing the first proposed design of the Victoria Memorial in Allahabad, now Prayagraj. The print is a page from The Building News of March 20, 1903. After the 1857 rebellion, the East India Company was formally dissolved in 1874. India then came under the direct rule of the British crown.
Queen Victoria’s statues were prolifically installed all over India. Especially in Bombay, Madras, Bangalore, Calcutta, Agra, and so on. The same was the case with Allahabad. The British administration decided to go ahead with a memorial structure that would come up in Alfred Park. Queen Victoria’s marble statue brought from England would be installed in its canopy.
Thus the remarkable sketch shown here was the proposed design for the memorial. But for reasons unknown, this first proposed design of the Victoria Memorial in Allahabad was scrapped. A more simplified version of the canopy came up in 1906 with Queen Victoria’s statue duly installed.
To see pictures of the memorials go to Alfred Park – The Grand Old Park Of Allahabad.
Did you know – that the memorial structure still exists in Alfred Park ( now Chandrashekhar Azad Park). But Queen Victoria’s statue was removed on the orders of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru after the independence. It is supposedly dumped in the municipal museum of Lucknow.
Past posts – 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#16)., Central Walk Victoria Gardens Mumbai, 1900 Photo., Victoria Carriage In Bombay – Old Postcard 1940., Old Book 1892 – Albuquerque.
