Victoria Memorial Hall

Victoria Memorial, one of the famous and beautiful monuments of Kolkata was built between 1906 and 1921 in memory of Queen Victoria. This huge white-marble museum is made from Makrana marbles from Rajasthan.  The forms in the museum like the great dome, clustered with four subsidiary, octagonal domed chattris, the high portals, the terrace and the domed corner towers speak of a splendid richness in architecture. The Memorial is situated on 64 acres of land with the building covering 338 ft by 228 ft.

The Prince of Wales, King George V, laid the foundation stone on January 4, 1906 and it was formally opened to the public in 1921. Sir William Emerson, President of the British Institute of Architects, designed and planned the building and the construction work was done by Messrs. Martin & Co.

This grandiloquent structure presently houses a museum with a large collection of oil paintings and water colours by famous European artists like Charles D'oyly, Johann Zoffany, William Hadges, William Simpson, Tilly Kettle, Thomas Hickey, Bultzar Solvyns, Thomas Hickey, Emily Eden and others. Besides these, the Memorial also houses the largest collection in the world of the paintings by the Daniells. The Royal Gallery is a storehouse of oil paintings of Queen Victoria receiving the sacrament at her coronation in the Westminster Abbey in June 1838; her marriage with Prince Albert (1840), the christening of the Prince of Wales, the marriage of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) with Princess Alexandra and others.

The Memorial's grandeur at a height of 200 feet (184 ft up to the base of the figure of Victory, which is again 16 ft high) is accentuated by the serenity that engulfs you in its corridors. The groups of figures above the north porch represent Motherhood, Prudence and Learning. Surrounding the main dome are figures of Art, Architecture, Justice, Charity etc.

The vastness and splendour of Victoria Memorial can be comprehended from the fact that it has been divided into different divisions like the garden, library and others for maintenance and also houses a host of valuable articles like the dagger of Tipu Sultan, a cannon used in the battle of Plassey, rare books that date back to 1870, valuable manuscripts like the Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazal, rare postage stamps and Western paintings to entice the visitors to this awesome monument.

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