Page 78 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

76  DELHI & THE NOR TH

1 Street-by-Street: Around Vijay Chowk

Vijay Chowk, or “Victory Square”, a large piazza at the base of
Raisina Hill, was planned as a commanding approach to the
Viceroy’s House, now the Indian President’s residence. This is
where the “Beating of the Retreat” ceremony takes place each
year on 29 January (see p41). Vijay Chowk is flanked by two
long, Classical Secretariat buildings (the North and South Blocks),
which house several ministries as well as the Prime Minister’s
Office. Ministers and government officials live in spacious . Vijay Chowk
bungalows on the tree-shaded avenues nearby. From Vijay This piazza, flanked by
Chowk, Lutyens’s grand Central Vista lies ahead – large trees red sandstone obelisk-
shaped fountains,
and fountains line the lawns of Rajpath up to India Gate, the faces a grand vista.
Statue Canopy and the National Stadium at the far end.
Sansad Bhavan,
North Block,
designed by formerly known as
Herbert Baker, Parliament House.
has an imposing
Central Hall.

M O T I L A L N E H R U M A R G D
D A L H O U S I E R O A D A J R O A

The Iron Gates A R
Copied from a M S U N E H R I B A G H R O A D
pair that Lutyens K A
saw in Chiswick,
England, these are
set into ornamental D
sand stone gate - R O A
posts. They lead to Key A J R
Rashtrapati Bhavan A X
(see p78). Suggested route J I E I
L K R I S H N A M E N O N M A R G
P
U
M
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens A D
R
Architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869–1944), President of the G
Royal Academy from 1938 to 1944, was commissioned to design
India’s new capital in 1911. With Sir Herbert Baker, his colleague, it
took him 20 years to build the city in a unique style that combined
Western Classicism with Indian decorative motifs. The result is an
impressive and harmonious synthesis, with Neo-Mughal gardens
and grand vistas meeting at
verdant roundabouts. The
build was delayed by World
War I and quarrels between
Baker and Lutyens, and
spiralling costs met by Indian
revenues led Mahatma Gandhi . South Block
to term it a “white elephant”. The Prime Minister’s Office
The red sandstone National Archives, Ironically, the British lived here and the Defence Ministry are
designed by Lutyens for only 16 years. located within this section of
the Secretariat.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p694 and pp706–707

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