View of Calcutta’s River Hooghly, GPO & High Court, 1880 Photo
An old 1880 photo of Calcutta’s River Hooghly with a view of GPO and High Court. The photo gives a view of the Calcutta General Post Office (GPO), the High Court, and other buildings further up. What looks like a church steeple is obscurely visible in the distance. People manning a huge boat can be seen in the foreground.
The Hooghly has been the waterway for European settlers. Historically its waterfront housed the trading posts of the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and Danish. The river was spanned by the old Howrah Bridge by this time. The General Post Office is housed in this beautiful building with its impressive dome. Designed by Walter Granville and built in the 1860s, it stands on the site of the old mud fort. Fort William the newer fort, not visible here, is in close proximity.
Read more The Hooghly River: A Sacred and Secular Waterway.
Did you know – that in 1690, an English merchant, Job Charnock, established a trading post on a riverside village, which together with neighbouring villages grew into the city of Calcutta (Kolkata).
Past posts – Raja Ravi Varma’s Portrait Photo – Old Postcard 1904., Thrissur Pooram Decorated Elephants, 1910 Postcard.
