Shahid Minar has a bronze dome
It was discovered by workers during repairs
Kolkata:
The city’s iconic Shahid Minar, which was covered with white paint, has a beautiful bronze dome, a historian said yesterday.
The discovery took place when workers engaged to repair and restore the monument scraped off the white paint; they unearthed the monument’s metal plated dome.
“It now looks even more beautiful and most importantly Kolkata is now proud of its new found icon,” said Barun De, who was even not aware of its presence.
The Shaheed Minar, formerly known as the Ochterlony Monument, is a monument in Kolkata that was built in 1825 by Major-General Sir David Ochterlony, commander of the British East India Company, to commemorate both his successful defence of Delhi against the Marathas in 1804 and the victory of the East India Company’s armed forces over the Gurkhas in the Anglo-Nepalese War. The monument was constructed in his memory. It was designed by J.P. Parker and paid for from public funds.
In August 1969, it was rededicated to the memory of the martyrs of the Indian freedom movement and hence renamed the “Shahid Minar”, which means “martyrs monument” in both Bengali and Hindi, by the then United Front Government in memory of the martyrs of the Indian independence movement.
Archeological Survey of India officials who had been overseeing the repair work were under scrutiny as the dome started to get a bluish ting, while many thought the state government was painting it blue and white, which is considered as the chief minister’s choice of colour to paint the city with.
Earlier when Jyoti Basu was Chief Minister of the first elected Communist government in the state, he wanted to paint it with red as a mark to his party cadres sacrifice to get the Communist elected. However, then also city intellectuals including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and a host of others took to the roads to protest it.
“It is certainly a wonderful discovery for the city, which now has a new icon after Victoria Memorial Hall. The government needs to do all that it can to protect it from all hazards specially the man-made ones, which are too obvious in an over-populated city like Kolkata,” said historian Sukanta Sen.
