Month: August 2014

Safdarjung’s Tomb a marble mausoleum

by

The tomb was built for Safdarjung, the powerful prime minister of Muhammad Shah who was the weak Mughal emperor from 1719 to 1748. The central tomb has a huge dome. There are four water canals leading to four buildings. One has an ornately decorated gateway while the other three are pavilions, with living quarters built into the walls. Octagonal towers are in the corners. The canals are four oblong tanks, one on each side of the tomb

Safdarjung’s Tomb is a garden tomb with a marble mausoleum in New Delhi, India. It was built in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style, and was described as “the last flicker in the lamp of Mughal architecture”. The top storey of the edifice houses the Archaeological Survey of India. The garden, in the style evolved by the Mughal Empire that is now known as the Mughal gardens style influenced by Persian gardens style, is entered through an ornate gate. Its facade is decorated with elaborate plaster carvings.

About Tomb

Safdarjung’s tomb was built by Nawab Shuja-ud-Daulah, the son of Safdarjung. Safdarjung was the governor of Awadh and later became the Prime Minister of Muhammad Shah, the Mughal emperor. Built in 1753-1754, the Safdarjung tomb lies at the Lodi road, New Delhi. Safdarjung’s tomb is set in the middle of a garden, which spreads over an area of 300 sq m. The garden of Safdarjung’s tomb is laid down on the pattern of the Mughal Charbagh style. The Safdarjung tomb was erected roughly on the pattern of Humayun’s tomb.

Read more

Lodhi Tomb (Lodhi Gardens)

by

Lodhi Gardens is a park in Delhi, India. Spread over 90 acres (360,000 m2), it contains, Mohammed Shah’s Tomb, Sikander Lodi’s Tomb, Sheesh Gumbad and Bara Gumbad, architectural works of the 15th century Sayyid and Lodis, a Pashtun dynasty which ruled much of Northern India during the 16th century, and the site is now protected by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The gardens are situated between Khan Market and Safdarjung’s Tomb on Lodi Road. It is beautiful and serene, and is a hotspot for morning walks for the Delhiites.

About Lodhi Garden

Lodi Garden in Delhi is the combination of picturesque gardens and the 15th and 16th century monuments. It possesses gems like the tomb of Muhammad Sayyid and Ibrahim Lodi and is quite famous among the morning walkers of the nearby South Delhi area. In British times, the park was called Lady Willingdon Park. In 1968 the garden was re-landscaped to its present condition by J A Stein and Garrett Eckbo.

Read more

Beautiful and Historical Flora Fountain

by

Flora Fountain, at the Hutatma Chowk (Martyr’s Square), is an ornamentally and exquisitely sculpted architectural heritage monument located at the southern end of the historic Dadabhai Naoroji Road, called the Mile Long Road, at the Fort business district in the heart of South Mumbai, Mumbai,India. Flora Fountain, built in 1864, is a fusion of water, architecture and sculpture, and depicts the Roman goddess Flora. It was built at a total cost of Rs. 47,000, or 9000 pounds sterling, a princely sum in those days.

About Fountain

Flora fountain is beautifully adorned stone fountain which is located in the Fort area in South Mumbai. The fountain was built in 1864. It represents the Roman Goddess Flora which is the ‘Goddess of Abundance’. Today, Flora fountain is a heritage structure. The total cost to build this structure was Rs. 47,000 which was a considerable amount during that time. It was constructed by the Agri-Horticultural Soceity of Western India. A donation of Rs 20,000 by Cursetjee Fardoonjee Parekh was used to erect this fountain. It was designed by R. Norman Shaw and it was sculpted by James Forsythe.

Read more

The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India

by

The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, later renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya is the main museum in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. It was founded in the early years of the 20th century by prominent citizens of Bombay, with the help of the government, to commemorate the visit of the then prince of Wales. It is located in the heart of South Mumbai near the Gateway of India. The museum was renamed in the 1990s or early 2000s after Shivaji, the founder of Maratha Empire.

The museum building is built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, incorporating elements of other styles of architecture like the Mughal, Maratha and Jain. The museum building is surrounded by a garden of palm trees and formal flower beds.

The museum houses approximately 50,000 exhibits of ancient Indian history as well as objects from foreign lands, categorized primarily into three sections: Art, Archaeology and Natural History. The museum houses Indus Valley Civilization artefacts, and other relics from ancient India from the time of the Guptas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakuta.

 

Read more

The Historical Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

by

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and historic railway station in Mumbai which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. Situated in the Bori Bunder area of Mumbai, it was built as a new railway station on the location of the Bori Bunder Station in 1887 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. In March 1996 its name was changed to the present name in honour of the Maratha warrior King Shivaji. Its abbreviation CST is popularly used by locals to refer to the station and it is also known by its abbreviation Mumbai CST or CSTM. It is the busiest railway station in India, and serves both as a terminal for long distance trains terminating in Mumbai as well as commuter trains of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.

About Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is an outstanding example of late 19th-century railway architecture in the British Commonwealth, characterized by Victorian Gothic Revival and traditional Indian features, as well as its advanced structural and technical solutions. It became a symbol for Bombay (now Mumbai) as a major mercantile port city on the Indian subcontinent within the British Commonwealth.

Read more