West Bengal Governor Dr CV Ananda Bose on Saturday, the Bengali New Year, opened the doors of the palatial 220-year-old Raj Bhavan here to the common people giving them a chance to visit the heritage building which was once the seat of the British colonial power.
Bose inaugurated a heritage walk, in collaboration with the Indian Museum, at Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning in which students of Calcutta University besides underprivileged children and representatives of several other states participated.
This three-storied building with a magnificent central area consisting of large halls has curved corridors on all four sides radiating to detached wings, each constituting a house in itself.
Built between 1799 and 1803 when Marquis Wellesley was the Governor General, this magnificent building was designed on the lines of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, the ancestral house of Lord Curzon who later lived here as the Viceroy and the Governor General 100 years after Wellesley.
During the Heritage Walk, people can see items such as the Royal Coat of Arms, a Chinese Canon, Grand Stairs, North Marble Hall, Central Marble Hall, South Marble Hall, Asia’s first elevator and the library, besides the garden, two lakes and a bridge on the 27-acre compound of the magnificent monument.
A total of 30 people including one representative each from Tripura, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal and university students took part in Saturday's ‘Poila Baisakh Heritage Walk’. Poila Baisakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar.
The Heritage Walk will be hosted every Saturday afternoon from 4.30pm to 5.30pm, an official said.
"For the first few weeks, only invitees will be allowed to enter the Raj Bhavan. Later, they will have to book online from the Raj Bhavan website. Around 30 to 35 people can participate in each Heritage Walk," he said.
Wishing the people of the state on the occasion of 'Poila Baishakh', Bose said the Heritage Walk “has been organised to establish peace. Please bring peace to the world. Please bring peace to Bengal. Please bring peace to the country. Bengal will regain all its glory. I wish everyone well.”
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