The Original Kala Ghoda & King Edward VII Bombay, 1885 Photo
A rare 1885 photo of the original Kala Ghoda and King Edward VII in Bombay (Mumbai). An area still called Kala Ghoda is at Fort, Bombay. The precinct includes Flora Fountain, the Prince of Wales Museum, Horniman Circle, etc. It also covers Watson’s Hotel, Elphinstone College, David Sassoon Library, and the Army & Navy building.
However, the name once referred to a statue of King Edward VII (at that time the Prince of Wales) mounted on a horse. The Prince had visited Bombay in 1875. After his tour, an equestrian statue of him was donated to the city by Albert David Sassoon, an industrialist and philanthropist, in 1876. Which is the same statue that is shown in this 1885 photo.
Edward VII, in 1901, succeeded his mother Queen Victoria to the British throne after her death. In 1965, the statues of the Prince, Queen Victoria, and other British personalities were banished into oblivion. Nevertheless, in 2017, another new Kala Ghoda statue returned to the area reminiscent of the earlier one. But without a rider, it was commissioned by the Kala Ghoda Association.
Read more History of Kala Ghoda – Statue Old & New.
Did you know – the original bronze sculpture measured 12 feet 9 inch high, it was designed by Edgar Boehm and cost 12500 pounds at the time.
Past posts – 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#10)., Main Street Pune – Old Postcard 1910., Queen Victoria Memorial Project Allahabad, 1902 Print ., Aden, Bombay, Madras & Calcutta – Vintage Map 1910.
