Rashtrapati Bhavan
Rashtrapati Bhavan | |
---|---|
Rāṣṭrapati Bhavan | |
Delhi Order[1] | |
Location | Rajpath, Raisina Hill, New Delhi |
Address | Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, India – 110 004 |
Town or city | New Delhi |
Country | India |
Coordinates | 28°36′52″N 77°11′59″E / 28.61444°N 77.19972°E |
Current tenants | |
Construction started | 1912 |
Completed | 1929 Sir Edwin Lutyens |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 340 |
Website | |
rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in |
The Rashtrapati Bhavan (
History
The
The British architect
Lutyens campaigned for its fixing but was not able to get it to be changed. Lutyens wanted to make a long inclined grade to Viceroy's House with retaining walls on either side. While this would give a view of the house from further back, it would also cut through the square between the secretariat buildings. The committee with Lutyens and Baker established in January 1914 said the grade was to be no steeper than 1 in 25, though it eventually was changed to 1 in 22, a steeper gradient which made it more difficult to see the Viceroy's palace. While Lutyens knew about the gradient and the possibility that the Viceroy's palace would be obscured by the road, it is thought that Lutyens did not fully realise how little the front of the house would be visible. In 1916 the Imperial Delhi committee dismissed Lutyens's proposal to alter the gradient. Lutyens thought Baker was more concerned with making money and pleasing the government, rather than making a good architectural design.[5] The land was owned by Basakha Singh and mostly Sir Sobha Singh.[6]
Lutyens travelled between India and England almost every year for twenty years and worked on the construction of the Viceroy's House in both countries. Lutyens reduced the building from 13,000,000 cubic feet (370,000 m3) to 8,500,000 cubic feet (240,000 m3) because of budget restrictions.[5]
The gardens were initially designed and laid out in Mughal style by William Robert Mustoe who was influenced by Lady Hardinge who in turn had sought inspiration in the book by Constance Villiers-Stuart in her Gardens of the Great Mughals (1913). The designs underwent changes and alterations under subsequent viceroys and after Indian Independence.[7] After independence, it was renamed as Government House.[8]
When
On 26 January 1950, when Rajendra Prasad became the first President of India and occupied this building, it was renamed Rashtrapati Bhavan – the President's House.[9]
Architecture
Design
Consisting of four floors and 340 rooms, with a floor area of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2), it was built using 700 million bricks and 3,000,000 cu ft (85,000 m3) of stone with little steel.[10]
The design of the building fell into the period of the
Various Indian elements were added to the building. These included several circular stone basins on top of the building, as water features are an important part of Indian architecture. There was also a traditional Indian
The column has a "distinctly peculiar crown on top, a glass star springing out of bronze lotus blossom".[12]
There were pierced screens in red sandstone, called
One bell is on each corner at the top of the column. As there is an ancient Indian belief that bells signalled the end of a dynasty, it was said that as the bells were silent British rule in India would not end.[14]
Whereas previous British examples of so-called
Lutyens added several small personal elements to the house, such as an area in the garden walls and two ventilator windows on the stateroom to look like the glasses which he wore. The Viceregal Lodge was completed largely by 1929, and (along with the rest of New Delhi) inaugurated officially in 1931. Between 1932 and 1933 important decorations were added, especially in the ballroom, and executed by the Italian painter Tommaso Colonnello.[18]
It has 355 decorated rooms and a floor area of 200,000 square feet (19,000 m2). The structure includes 700 million bricks
Layout plan
The layout plan of the building is designed around a massive square with multiple
Halls and rooms
Durbar Hall is situated directly under the double-dome of the main building. Known as the "Throne Room" before independence, it had two separate thrones for the Viceroy and Vicereine. Since Indian Independence, a single high chair for the President is kept here under a Belgian glass chandelier hanging from a height of 33 m. The flooring of the hall is made of chocolate-coloured Italian marble. The columns in Durbar Hall are made in Delhi Order which combines vertical lines with the motif of a bell. The vertical lines from the column were also used in the frieze around the room, which could not have been done with one of the traditional Greek orders of columns. The columns are made from yellow Jaisalmer marble, with a thick line running along the centre.[22]
Durbar Hall has a capacity of 500 people and it is here in this building that
Ashoka Hall is a rectangular room of 32×20 m. It was originally built as a state ballroom with wooden flooring. The Persian painting on its ceiling depicts a royal hunting expedition led by King Fateh Ali Shah of Persia. The walls have fresco paintings.[23]
Dome
The dome, in the middle, reflects both Indian and British styles. In the centre is a tall copper-faced dome, surmounting a very tall drum in several sections, which stands out from the rest of the building. The dome is exactly in the middle of the diagonals between the four corners of the building. It is more than twice the height of the building itself and combines classical and Indian styles. Lutyens considered the Pantheon in Rome as a model when designing the dome, although the exterior of the dome was also modelled partly after the early Buddhist stupas.[24]
Garden
'Amrit Udyan' (meaning: The Garden of the Holy Nectar) is a garden situated at the back of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Formerly known as the 'Mughal Gardens', it incorporates both
Main garden: Two channels intersecting at right angles running in the
Terrace garden: There are two longitudinal strips of the garden, at a higher level on each side of the Main Garden, forming the Northern and Southern boundaries. The plants grown are the same as in the Main Garden. At the centre of both of the strips is a fountain, which falls inwards, forming a well. On the Western tips are located two gazebos and on the Eastern tips are two ornately designed sentry posts.[28]
Long Garden or the '
Museum
In July 2014, a museum inside Rashtrapati Bhavan was inaugurated by then President of India Pranab Mukherjee. The museum helps visitors to get an inside view of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, its art, architecture and get educated about lives of past presidents.[29] The second phase was inaugurated in 2016 by the President Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[30] The museum has been built under the guidance of Saroj Ghose.[30]
Restoration
The first restoration project at the Rashtrapati Bhavan was started in 1985 and ended in 1989, during which the Ashoka Hall was stripped of its later additions and restored to its original state by the architectural restorer Sunita Kohli. The second restoration project, begun in 2010, involved Charles Correa and Sunita Kohli.[20][31][32]
Gallery
See also
- List of official residences of India
- Rashtrapati Nilayam
- The Retreat Building
- Rashtrapati Ashiana
- Sir Herbert Baker
References
- ^ Kahn, Jeremy (30 December 2007). "Amnesty Plan for Relics of the Raj". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
He also invented his own "Delhi Order" of neo-Classical columns that fuse Greek and Indian elements.
- ^ a b "Rashtrapati Bhavan". The President of India. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
- Jagran Prakashan Limited. Archivedfrom the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
- ^ "New Delhi villagers seek compensation 100 years after being evicted by Raj". The Daily Telegraph. 4 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e "The history of Rashtrapati Bhavan : The official home of the President of India". 19 September 2015.
- ^ Sikh Achievers.
- JSTOR 40649671.
- ^
Multiple sources:
- "About Us". Rashtrapati Bhavan. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- Gandhi, Rajmohan (2007), Mohandas: True Story of a Man, His People, Penguin Books Limited, ISBN 9788184753172
- Dalal, Roshen (2003), Puffin History of India For Children : 2, Puffin Books, p. 6, ISBN 9780143335467
- "RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN", PUBLICATIONS DIVISION, Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, 2003, ISBN 9788123029986
- Gandhi, Rajmohan (2008), Gandhi: The Man, His People, and the Empire, University of California Press, p. 632, ISBN 9780520255708
- von Tunzelmann, Alex (1971), Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, Simon & Schuster UK, ISBN 9781471114762
- ISBN 978-8175342606.
- ^ "Rashtrapati Bhavan". ABP. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
- ^ a b Inan, 100-101
- ISBN 978-81-7436-354-1.
- ^ Inan, 101
- ^ a b Inan, 102
- ^ "The President's Secretariat and making of Rashtrapati Bhavan". Rashtrapati Bhavan. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ Inan, 100-102
- ^ Roy, Siddhartha (6 September 2011). "The building Blocks of British empire". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ Perantuono, Carmine (27 July 2017). "In mostra l'arte di Tommaso Colonnello a Ortona". Rete8. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
- ISBN 978-1907892271.
- ^ a b "Lutyens' Legacy". Forbes. 2 July 2007.
- ISBN 0-907462-59-6.
- ^ a b "Durbar Hall | Rashtrapati Bhavan". rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ "Ashoka Hall | Rashtrapati Bhavan". rashtrapatisachivalaya.gov.in. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
- ^ "New Delhi". Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
- ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ "President to open Udyanotsav 2014 at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Feb 15". Biharprabha News. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "Top 10 Famous Tourist Places to Visit in Delhi, India". United News of Bangladesh. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan rechristened as Amrit Udyan on Saturday". 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "President inaugurates Rashtrapati Bhavan museum". Biharprabha News. Indo-Asian News Service. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
- ^ a b Chatterji, Saubhadra (24 July 2016). "Rashtrapati Bhavan museum ready to welcome visitors: 10 key attractions". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
- ^ "Setting the House in order". The Times of India. 17 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
- ^ "Kalam's 'thinking hut' demolished". The Times of India. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
Bibliography
- Davies, Philip (1987). Splendours of the Raj: British Architecture in India, 1660–1947. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-009247-9.
- Gradidge, Roderick (February 1982). Edwin Lutyens, Architect Laureate. London: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 978-0047200236.
- Inan, Aseem, "Tensions Manifested: Reading the Viceroy's House in New Delhi", in The Emerging Asian City: Concomitant Urbanities and Urbanisms, ed. Vinayak Bharne, Routledge UK, 2012
- ISBN 978-0-300-02422-7.
- Nath, Aman; Mehra, Amit (2002). Dome over India: Rashtrapati Bhavan. India Book House. ISBN 978-8175083523.