Queen Victoria’s Statue British Era Bangalore – 2 Postcards 1907
Two 1900s photo postcards of Queen Victoria’s Statue in British Era Bangalore (Bengaluru). Queen Victoria was the longest-serving British Monarch who also held the additional title of Empress of India. After she died in 1901, it was undoubtedly clear that her statues would be installed in the British Empire countries. It was no less in then undivided India that her sculptures would be placed strategically in important cities.
To name a few Rawalpindi, Karachi, Bombay, Calcutta, Agra, Madras, Bangalore, etc…were some of the cities where Queen Victorias Statues were installed. In 1906 the Prince of Wales (future King George) arrived in India for an extensive tour of the sub-continent. He had ceremonially unveiled the statue at Cubbon Park in Bangalore, likewise also in Agra, Rawalpindi, etc.
Somewhere around fifty life-size sculptures of Victoria were installed all over British India at that time. This statue of Queen Victoria at Bangalore shows her carrying a scepter and a sphere with a cross. Today only five of them are found in their original locations, Bangalore’s Cubbon Park being one of them. These two early photos show Victoria’s monument encircled by a steel fence and surrounded by canons. Click on the photo for better view.
Did you know- the empress’s ceremonial regalia is run down now. The fingers holding the sphere are missing and the scepter too lies broken, a finger on the right hand is also broken off and missing.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s Balamani – Old Postcard 1902., View Of Bombay From Mazgaon Engraved Print 1845., Motor Cars In Colonial Era Kolkata’s Cityscape.