It is believed that the city of Delhi has been the site of seven cities,one after the other,the present New Delhi being the eighth .
In December 1911 , the coronation Durbar was held at Delhi . King George V announced the creation of a new capital ,Delhi. The real motive behind the transfer of the capital was to leave Calcutta which had become the center of the freedom struggle . However ,the reason given was that Delhi was divergent views about the shifting of the capital . Lord Crewe,Secretary of state ,declared that the creation of new capital would be taken as ' an unflattering determination to maintain British rule in India'. However ,Thomas Metcalfe argued that it ' would mark the beginning of the end'.
Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker were the two great architects who designed New Delhi. Lutyens and Baker had diffarent but complementary visions . Lutyens sought to borrow from the architectural designs of different countries and Baker wanted to integrate local elements in his design.
Lutyens realized that what needed was a synthesis of Eastern and Western styles.
Thus were built the Viceregal House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan), Council Chamber (now Parliment House), North Block and South Block ,India Gate,Connaught Place and planned so that large spaces on both sides of Kingsway (now Rajpath) were lined with trees and decorated with water bodies and fountains.
In constructing government building red and cream sandstone was most often used. Domes,loggias , chhajjas, chhatris and jaalis were prominent features of these new building along with motifs talen from the Hindu,Buddhist and Jain traditions as well as from the Mughal style of architecture.
The construction of city was interrupted by First World War (1914-18) The city was finally inaugurated in the year 1931.
No comments:
Post a Comment