[Culture] Kalas Mahal

Culture

Kalas Mahal

Kalas Mahal

Synopsis:

(01)   Why in News?

(02)  About Kalas Mahal

(03)  Restoration Work

(04)  History behind Kalas Mahal

(05)  N. Priya Ravichandran

(06)  Heritage structures in Chennai

(07)   Indo – Saracenic Architecture

(01) Why in News?

Fire happened in 2012; Feb 2014 restoration work begins

(02) About Kalas Mahal:

·        Built by the eighth Nawab of the Carnatic Muhammad Ali Wallajah (1749-1795) in 1768, Kalas Mahal and Humayun Mahal form part of the Chepauk Palace, the official residence of Nawabs till 1855, [website on the Prince of Arcot]

·        Kalas Mahal, which is part of the Chepauk Palace in Chennai was built in 1768

·        Kalas Mahal, which is part of the Chepauk Palace, was built in 1768.

·        The Indo-Saracenic structure is classified as grade I heritage building in the Justice E Padmanabhan Committee Report

·        The building housed some state government offices till Jan 2012, when the fire damaged the building

·        In the 1960s, the Tamil Nadu government constructed the Ezhilagam complex, fronting the Marina beach, and located several of its offices there, including some in the palace buildings.   

(03) Restoration Works:

·        Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned Rs. 14.5 crore for restoration of the heritage structure.

·        The building will be restored based on the recommendations made by heritage conservation architect Ravi Gundu Rao

·        Ravi said that, on a scale of 1 to 10 of difficulty, Kalas Mahal would be 9.

(04) History of Kalas Mahal:

·        Kalas Mahal or the Chepauk Palace, the official residence of the princes of the Carnatic had been taken over by the British in 1859

·        Then, Azim Jahn (Carnatic leader) constructed a new residence, the Amir Mahal (near to Chepauk) [But some historian says, British itself built Amir Mahal and made sophisticated for Carnatic as the later Carnatic was ‘loyal’ to British]

(05) N. Priya Ravichandran:

·        Soon after the fire was put out, N. Priya Ravichandran, Divisional Fire Officer, Chennai City Central, and Station Fire Officer  and Murugan, entered the building which housed the offices of several government departments

·        Both officials were seriously injured when the roof of the old building caved

·        Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa spent around 10 minutes with each of the officials in the hospitals and assured them that all medical expenses would be borne by the government. Chief Minister, accompanied by Apollo Hospitals founder Prathap C. Reddy, later met the doctors to discuss the medical treatment provided to the officers.

·        A year later, in the republic day function, both the officers were awarded for their brave act by Tamil Nadu government

 (06) Heritage Structures in Chennai:

·        Chennai with historically rich records dating from the British era, houses 2,467 heritage buildings within its metropolitan area, the highest within any Metropolitan Area limit in India.

·        Most of these buildings are around 200 years old and older.

·        Chennai is home to the second largest collection of heritage buildings in the country, after Kolkata.

·        The official list of heritage buildings was compiled by the Justice E. Padmanabhan committee.

·        Most of these buildings are now classified under the Heritage buildings category as laid down by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) owing to the need for their preservation.

·        Important 15 building in this beautiful city is listed below:

#	Building	Architectural Style	Year of Construction	Architect
1	Chennai Central Railway Station	Indo - Saracenic	1873	George Harding
2	Southern Railway Headquarters	Indo – Saracenic	1921	N. Garyson
3	General Post Office	Indo – Saracenic	1884	Robert Fellowes Chisholm
4	Madras High Court	Indo - Saracenic	1892	J W Brassington, Henry Irwin
5	Bharat Insurance Building	Indo – Saracenic	1897
6	Chepauk Palace	Indo - Saracenic	1764/1768
7	Senate House, University of Madras	Indo – Saracenic	1879	Robert Fellowes Chisholm
8	College of Engineering (Anna University)	Indo – Saracenic
9	Government Museum Buildings	Indo – Saracenic	1789-1890
10	National Art Gallery	Indo – Saracenic	1906	Henry Irwin
11	Egmore Railway Station	Indo – Saracenic	1908	Henry Irwin
12	Ripon Building	Indo – Saracenic	1913
13	Victoria Public Hall	Indo – Saracenic	1888 - 1890	Robert Fellowes Chisholm
14	Amir Mahal	Indo – Saracenic	1798
15	State Bank of India	Victorian	1897	Col. Samuel Jacob

(07) Indo – Saracenic Architecture:

·        Also known as Indo - Gothic / Neo - Mughal / Mughal - Gothic

·        An 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

·        Saracenic was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs.

·        The first Indo-Saracenic building is said to be the Chepauk palace, located in the neighbourhood of Chepauk, in present day Chennai (Madras).

·        Other Indo - Saracenic architectural buildings in India are:

Ø     Municipal Corporation, Mumbai

Ø     Gateway of India

Ø     Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai

Ø     Mysore Palace

Ø     Vicotria Memorial, Calcutta

Ø     Khalsa College, Amritsar

Ø     Central Secretariat, Delhi

·        Other Indo-Saracenic architectural buildings outside India

Ø     Pakistan

Ø     Malaysia

Ø     Bangladesh

Ø     Burma (Myanmar)

Ø     UK

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