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| Cenotaph - Calcutta - 1924 Flickr |
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| The Cenotaph on Whitehall London noisebreak.com |
A cenotaph (an English word derived from Greek) is referred to an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose mortal remains are elsewhere. It can also be a basic tomb for a person who has since been re-interred elsewhere. Normally a preponderance ofones iwere built in memory of groups of individuals, such as missing soldiers in a war or in civil disturbances of a country or of an empire. Thy are known to exist from ancient times and there were many cenotaphs in Egypt and north Greece.
Among three monuments in Calcutta, to honour the Indian soldiers who died in the First World War, the most significant one is the Glorious Dead Cenotaph. Located on the northern end of the Calcutta Maidan, right across the Akashvani Bhawan and adjacent to the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the impressive Cenotaph was built in 1924 and its architect is Herbert William Palliser who drew inspiration from the Cenotaph of Whitehall, London that was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and replaced Lutyens' identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade. Simplicity personified, the cenotaph
is made of solid sandstone (sedimentary rock) and is dedicated to the memory of Kolkata-based British and Anglo-Indian soldiers who fought for the British, and, in the process, lost their lives in the world war between 1914 and 1918. The memorial was unveiled in 1921 by the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VIII.
The Cenotaph has no artistic works worth its name except for the two wreaths on either side, but, in spite of it, this simple structure is majestic to look at. But for the Lower portion of the eastern side of the cenotaph that bears the inscription “Glorious Dead”and the southern and northern sides that contain the inscription of MCMXIV and MCMXVIII (respectively, these Roman numerals represent 1914 and 1918- years of conflict), there are no other details available. For unknown reasons, the original brass
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| The Cenotaph, Kolkata noisebreak.com |
Above image: Lower portion of the eastern side of the cenotaph bears the inscription
“Glorious Dead" ........
Above image: On the Maidan in Calcutta (The soldiers flank the stone cenotaph, which was designed by William Ingram Keir). Photographs and caption by Robert Freidus. Here you can view one of the soldiers with his rifle upside down.............
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| British slodier, The Victorian Web |
Above image: On the Maidan in Calcutta (The soldiers flank the stone cenotaph, which was designed by William Ingram Keir). Photographs and caption by Robert Freidus. Here you can view one of the soldiers with his rifle upside down.............
plaque bearing the names of the fallen soldiers was shifted to the famous St. John’s Church. An eye-catching feature is the two English made bronze statues of British soldiers with heads bowed and bayoneted rifles at reverse-arms flank on the sides as the silent guards /sentinels at the entrance of the area.
A Remembrance Service is held every year on Sunday closest to 11 November at 11 am at the Cenotaph to honor the British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who lost their lives in the two World Wars and later conflicts. This cenotaph is quite visible in the vicinity of this part of Kolkata.
Recently, the Police Memorial has been erected in the vicinity of the Glorious Dead Cenotaph, dedicated to the memory of the Police personnel killed while on duty.
