The Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, India was built between 1906-1921 to commemorate Queen Victoria. It was designed by British architect William Emerson in the Indo-Saracenic style, blending British and Mughal elements. The memorial houses collections related to British rule in India and is considered one of the finest examples of Indo-British architecture. Today it is an important art museum and tourist destination in Kolkata.

1. (1906-1921)
Designed by WILLIAM EMERSON
VICTORIA MEMORIAL

2. The Victoria Memorial Hall was erected in Calcutta, the
then capital of British India, to commemorate Queen
Victoria. The project was conceived by Lord Curzon,
Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905, who intended it to be
a period museum in memory of the queen with
particular emphasis on Indo-British history. Built on a
57-acre land and designed by Sir William Emerson (the
then President of the Royal Institute of British
Architecture), the splendour of the Memorial is evident
in its architecture, which is predominantly Italian
Renaissance in character, blended with nuances of
Orientalism. Widely hailed as the finest specimen of
Indo-British architecture in India, and often referred to
as the ‘Taj of the Raj,’ the Victoria Memorial Hall had its
foundation stone laid by the Prince of Wales in January
1906 and formally opened to the public in 1921. It was
declared an institution of National importance by the
Government of India Act of 1935. Today, the Victoria
Memorial Hall is considered to be one of the best
examples of a unique paradigm of the visual arts where
four diverse fields of arts – architecture, sculpture,
painting and gardening come together.

3. THE CITY
History
• It was the capital of British India from 1772-1911 (140 Years)
• It is the only metropolis in Eastern India
Economic Profile
• The importance of Kolkata as a trading centre was first
recognized by the British East India Company in the 17th
century
• Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of
eastern part of India
• It is a major port, and the only city in the region to have an
international airport
Socio-Cultural Profile
• It is a truly cosmopolitan city and is home to more than 15
different communities including international communities like
Chinese, Armenians
• Kolkata is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern Indian
literary and artistic thought

4. THE PLAN

5. Indo Saracenic Revival
Architecture - Architectural
style movement by British
architects in the late 19th
century in British India. It
drew elements from native
Indo-Islamic and Indian
architecture, and combined
it with the Gothic revival and
neo-classical styles favoured
in Victorian Britain.
THE STYLE

6. THE ELEMENTS

7. • Onion (bulbous) domes
• Overhanging eaves
• Pointed arches, cusped arches, or scalloped arches
• Colonnaded area on both sides
• Domed kiosks and many miniature domes
• Domed chhatris
• Pinnacles
• Towers or minarets
• Use of Makrana marble
THE FEATURES

8. THE FEATURES

9. THE FEATURES
CHEQUEREDTILES

10. • Total area of 64 acre with the building covering an area of
338sq.Ft by 228 sq.Ft.
• On way to the north gate is a bronze statue of Queen
Victoria by Sir George Frampton.The Queen is seated on
her throne, wearing the robes of the Star of India.
• Approaching the building from the south, visitors pass
the King Edward VII memorial arch with a bronze
equestrian statue of the King by Sir Bertram Mackennal
surmounting it and a marble statue of Lord Curzon by
F.W. Pomeroy, R.A.
• There are also other statues of various dignitaries like Lord
Bentinck, Governor General of India (1828-1835), Lord
Ripon (Governor- General of India from 1880 to 1884; the
statue of Sir Rajendranath Mookerjee, the pioneer
industrialist of Bengal is on the eastern side.
THE GARDEN

11. BIRD’S EYE VIEW

12. THE ELEMENTS
Wall and Wall treatment: Walls of the monuments were painted in white and off white color. The walls were having
smooth finish. Inside the dome the side area on the wall had stones fixed on them. The stone were Makrana marble fixed
like brick design on the walls. Stones were in white color, smooth in finish and rectangular in shape. The stone wall was
deeply engraved with the text of imperial declaration speech given by the Queen Victoria. The doors and windows were
made up of wood and some of them were framed with glass and dark brown in polished colour.

13. Ceiling and Ceiling treatment: The monument has geometrical ceiling patterns with creative cornices designs. They
were all white in color. Distemper paint was used over the ceiling. The designs on the ceilings were matching with the
room size and shape having square and rectangular patterns.
THE ELEMENTS

14. Accessories: The monument displayed many accessories like pictures and statues. The statues were life sized and white
in color reflecting the craftsmanship of the sculptor. The pictures were in color and in black and white too. The pictures
were of all sizes with golden frames and were straight as well as ornamental in design. They were quite heavy in weight.
THE ELEMENTS

15. Furniture: The furniture in the monument included storage cabinets, open shelf, tables, chairs and side table. Some of
the furniture’s were made up of Mahogany wood with polish applied on them. They were having smooth finish, dark
brown in color. They were heavy, strong and sturdy. The tables were made up of Sheraton style with straight legs and
sharp corners. The chairs had legs designed like ball and claw types. The back of the chair had curved design due to
which it is called ribbon back chairs.
THE ELEMENTS

16. Lighting: There were not any specific colonial lighting fixtures and lights. The modern lights like the fluorescent
tubes, incandescent bulbs and the spot lights were installed above the paintings displayed on the walls of the central
hall of the monument.
THE ELEMENTS

17. Highlighting Features of the monument: It is
a prominent building and art museum of
Calcutta under the Department of Culture,
Government of India. The main collections of the
Victoria Memorial show cases Western Paintings,
Sketches, Indian Paintings and Company school
drawings, Archive, Arms and Armour,
Lithographs, Aquatints, Mughal Miniatures,
Manuscripts, Rare Books, Postage Stamps,
Sculptures created by renowned artists and three
thousand five hundred articles associated with
the everlasting memory of Queen Victoria
THE ELEMENTS

18. THE ARCHITECTURE
The Victoria Memorial's architect was William Emerson (1843–
1924), president of the Royal Institute of British
Architects. The design is in the Indo-Saracenic revivalist
style which uses a mixture of British and Mughal elements
with Venetian, Egyptian, Deccani and Islamic architectural
influences. The building is 338 by 228 feet (103 by 69 m) and
rises to a height of 184 feet (56 m). It is constructed of
white Makrana marble. The gardens of the Victoria Memorial
were designed by Lord Redesdale and David Prain. Emerson's
assistant, Vincent Jerome Esch, designed the bridge of the
north aspect and the garden gates. In 1902, Emerson engaged
Esch to sketch his original design for the Victoria Memorial.
After designing the temporary exhibition building for
the Delhi Durbar of 1903, Curzon found Esch to be a suitable
assistant for Emerson.
Atop the central dome of the Victoria Memorial is the 16 ft
(4.9 m) figure of the Angel of Victory. Surrounding the dome
are allegorical sculptures including Art, Architecture, Justice,
and Charity and above the North Porch
are Motherhood, Prudence and Learning. In design it echos
the Taj Mahal with its dome, four subsidiaries, octagonal-
domed chhatris, high portals, terrace, and domed corner
towers.

19. THE ENTRANCE

20. THE MUSEUM
The Victoria Memorial has 25 galleries. These
include the royal gallery, the national leaders
gallery, the portrait gallery, central hall, the
sculpture gallery, the arms and armoury gallery
and the newer, Calcutta gallery. The Victoria
Memorial has the largest single collection of the
works of Thomas Daniell (1749–1840) and his
nephew, William Daniell (1769–1837). It also has a
collection of rare and antiquarian books such as
the illustrated works of William Shakespeare,
the Arabian Nights and the Rubaiyat by Omar
Khayyam as well as books about kathak dance
and thumri music by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
However, the galleries and their exhibitions, the
programmatic elements of the memorial do not
compete with the purely architectural spaces or
void.

21. THE MUSEUM
Royal Gallery
The Royal Gallery displays a number of portraits of Victoria and Prince Albert, and paintings illustrating their lives, by Jansen
and Winter halter. The oil paintings are copies of those in London. They include: Victoria receiving the sacrament at her coronation
in Westminster Abbey (June 1838); Victoria's marriage to Albert in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace (1840); the christening of the
Prince of Wales in Windsor Castle (1842); the marriage of Edward VII to Princess Alexandra (1863); Victoria at the First Jubilee service
at Westminster Abbey (1887) and the Second Jubilee service at St. Paul's Cathedral (June 1897). Victoria's childhood
rosewood pianoforte and her correspondence desk from Windsor Castle stand in the centre of the room. Edward VII presented these
items to the Victoria Memorial. On the south wall hangs the Russian artist Vasily Vereshchagin's oil painting of the state entry of
Edward VII in Jaipur in 1876.

22. THE MUSEUM
Calcutta Gallery
In the mid-1970s, the matter of a new gallery devoted to the visual history of Calcutta was promoted by Saiyid Nurul Hasan, the
minister for education. In 1986, Hasan became the governor of West Bengal and chairman of the board of trustees of the Victoria
Memorial. In November 1988, Hasan hosted an international seminar on the Historical perspectives for the Calcutta tercentenary. The
Calcutta gallery concept was agreed and a design was developed leading to the opening of the gallery in 1992. The Calcutta gallery
houses a visual display of the history and development of Calcutta from Job Charnock (1630–1692) of the English East India
Company to 1911, when the capital of India was transferred to New Delhi. The gallery also has a life-size diorama of Chitpur road in the
late 1800s.

23. THE EVENTS
Over the years the memorial has not
only emerged as one of the most famous
tourist destinations of Kolkata but has
also remained a favourite spot for family
and friends apart from holding a special
place for lovebirds. As night falls,
lighting of the Victoria Memorial makes
it look even more mesmerizing.

24. VICTORIA MEMORIAL AT NIGHT

25. REFERENCES
• http://indiaheritagehub.org/2013/12/31/indian-museum-kolkata/
• http://www.indianmuseumkolkata.org/Architecture%20through%20the%20Ages.php
• http://indianmuseumtt.org/Plan%20Your%20Visit.php
• http://www.victoriamemorial-cal.org/
• kolkatainformation.com
• Herbert E. W. "Flora's empire: British gardens in India." Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture, University
of Pennsylvania Press.
• Morris J. "Stones of the empire:Vaughan P. "The Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta: conception, collections,
conservation." Marg Publications, Nation Centre for the Performing Arts (India) 1997the buildings of the
Raj."Oxford University Press
• www.culturalindia.net
• https://knowindia.gov.in/culture-and-heritage/monuments/victoria-memorial.php