The Prince of Wales Museum Bombay – 2 Postcards 1915
Two 1915 postcards of the Prince of Wales Museum in Bombay (Mumbai). One postcard is from 1915 just before it was completed and on the verge of converting it into a hospital. The other postcard is probably from 1924 after it became the Prince of Wales Museum. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya as we call it today, is at Fort, in Mumbai. Designed by the British architect George Wittet in the Indo-Saracenic style.
The round dome is believed to have been inspired by the Gol Gumbaz’s dome in Bijapur. This was similarly the case with the Bombay GPO building’s dome which was also a copy of the Gol Gumbaz’s dome. The Museum’s foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales, the future King George V, in 1905. The construction was completed in 1914.
It also had a well-laid-out huge semi-circular garden. Because of an acute shortage of hospitals, the intended new museum building was converted into a military hospital from 1915 until the end of the war in 1918. It was named the Lady Hardinge War Hospital. Lady Lloyd, the wife of the Governor of Mumbai George Ambrose Lloyd, formally opened The Prince of Wales Museum in 1920.
Read more CSMVS: India’s Finest Art And History Museum.
Did you know- viewing the interiors of the museum can take more than two days, and even the exterior has great historical collectibles.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph c1894., Antique Painting of Madras Fort St George.
