Peter Foster: Raj India Era Monument To George V Restored
New Delhi - For decades after Indian independence the now dusty field in north Delhi where George V staged his sumptuous 1911 Coronation Durbar went to rack and ruin.
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In Delhi political circles the Coronation Park was seen, perhaps with a hint of satisfaction, as a fittingly tatty postscript to the vainglorious era of the British Raj.
Now, however, the New Delhi government and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage are restoring the park as a tourist attraction.
...
Work has begun clearing the dense vegetation covering statues of long forgotten officials and governors of the Raj, dumped there after Independence in 1947.
They stand - resplendent with the medals and mutton-chop whiskers of the age - flanking the King.
The chiselled names of only two courtiers remain - a "Sir John Jenkins'' and a "Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson''.
Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, is supporting the project that includes landscaping, a visitor centre and audio-visual aids to bring the 1911 pageant back to life.
From an Indian perspective, the Durbar was the moment King George formally announced that the capital would be moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.
...
O P Jain, a leading architectural historian who is guiding the project, said the intention was not to glorify the Raj but to recognise it as another chapter in India's long and varied history.
"We preserve Mughal-era monuments so it is only natural that we should seek to preserve the history of the British period,'' he said.
"We are not living in the past but learning from it.''
...
In Delhi political circles the Coronation Park was seen, perhaps with a hint of satisfaction, as a fittingly tatty postscript to the vainglorious era of the British Raj.
Now, however, the New Delhi government and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage are restoring the park as a tourist attraction.
...
Work has begun clearing the dense vegetation covering statues of long forgotten officials and governors of the Raj, dumped there after Independence in 1947.
They stand - resplendent with the medals and mutton-chop whiskers of the age - flanking the King.
The chiselled names of only two courtiers remain - a "Sir John Jenkins'' and a "Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson''.
Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, is supporting the project that includes landscaping, a visitor centre and audio-visual aids to bring the 1911 pageant back to life.
From an Indian perspective, the Durbar was the moment King George formally announced that the capital would be moved from Calcutta to New Delhi.
...
O P Jain, a leading architectural historian who is guiding the project, said the intention was not to glorify the Raj but to recognise it as another chapter in India's long and varied history.
"We preserve Mughal-era monuments so it is only natural that we should seek to preserve the history of the British period,'' he said.
"We are not living in the past but learning from it.''