HISTORIC BUILDINGS

GandhiMandapam

GandhiMandapam

Gandhi Mandapam is located on Sardar Vallabhai Patel Road, opposite to Anna University, Guindy, in Chennai. Built in memory of Mahatma Gandhi, the mandapam is easily recognizable because of the structure of the temple gopuram styling of its portals. Gandhi Mandapam lies next to the Guindy National Park


Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી, pronounced [moːɦənˈdaːs kəɾəmˈtʂənd ˈɡaːndʱiː] ( listen); 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and spiritual leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He was the pioneer of satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience, firmly founded upon ahimsa or total nonviolence—which led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. Gandhi is commonly known around the world as Mahatma Gandhi (Sanskrit: महात्मा mahātmā or "Great Soul", an honorific first applied to him by Rabindranath Tagore),[1] and in India also as Bapu (Gujarati: બાપુ, bāpu or "Father"). He is officially honoured in India as the Father of the Nation; his birthday, 2 October, is commemorated there as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Gandhi first employed non-violent civil disobedience while an expatriate lawyer in South Africa, during the resident Indian community's struggle for civil rights. After his return to India in 1915, he organized protests by peasants, farmers, and urban labourers concerning excessive land-tax and discrimination. After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women's rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end untouchability, and increase economic self-reliance. Above all, he aimed to achieve Swaraj or the independence of India from foreign domination. Gandhi famously led his followers in the Non-cooperation movement that protested the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (240 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930. Later he campaigned against the British to Quit India. Gandhi spent a number of years in jail in both South Africa and India.

As a practitioner of ahimsa, he swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. Gandhi lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven with yarn he had hand spun on a charkha. He ate simple vegetarian food, and also undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.

MGR Samathi

MGR Samathi

With its historic landmarks and buildings, long sandy beaches, cultural and art centers and parks, Chennai's tourism offers many interesting locations to visitors. One of the most important tourist attraction of Chennai is actually in the neighbouring town of Mahabalipuram with its ancient temples and rock carvings of the 7th century Pallava kingdom.

Chennai is the third most visited city in India by foreigners ranked after Delhi and Mumbai. About 650,000 tourists from USA, UK, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore have visited the city in 2007.[1]

ANNA Samathi

ANNA Samathi

Situated amidst a little garden, on Marina Beach road opposite the Madras University, this majestic structure was built in memory of the former Tamilnadu CM C.N. Annadurai at the very place where he was laid to rest.

Rippon Building

Rippon Building

Ripon Building is the seat of the Chennai Corporation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of three types of architectural styles - Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian.

The Ripon Building is white in colour and is located near the Central station in Chennai. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by a builder named Loganatha Mudaliar. the Building took four years to build at a cost of 750,000 Rupees. Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government. Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India laid the foundation on December 12, 1909.

The Municipal Corporation of Madras, after functioning from several other places, settled at Ripon building in 1913, with P.L. Moore as the President of the Municipal Corporation at the time of the * The building is rectangular and is 85 meters long and 32 metres wide.
* The first of its three floors offers about 2,800 square metres of space.
* Its central tower is 43 metres tall and has a clock 2.5 metres in diameter.
* The walls were constructed with stock bricks, set and plastered with lime mortar.
* The roofs are supported with teak wood joists. The original flooring of the ground floor was Cuddapah Slate. This has now been replaced with marble.
* One of the main attractions of the building is the Westminster Quarter chiming clock. This was installed by Oakes and Co. in 1913. The clock has a mechanical key system, which is wound every day. There are a total of 4 bells, which were cast by Gillet and Johnston in 1913.

SECRETARIAT

SECRETARIAT

The building now housing the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu is the focus of Fort St. George and the Fort is the fulcrum around which the metropolitan city of Madras, now known as Chennai, grew in the past three and a half centuries. The foundation for this vibrant city was laid way back in July/August 1639, by Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, two traders of East India Company. A major portion of it was probably completed by the St. George's Day i.e., 23rd April, 1640, and hence named as Fort St. George. The other important construction in 1680 was the St. Mary's Church, the first Anglican Church in the country.

In the beginning the Fort had a simple plan. At the centre, was the Governor's house or the "Castle". There was an outer fortification. The English families settled in the space between the castle and the outer fortification. Soon a flourishing settlement of native weavers, painters and other workers of cloth grew up to the north of the outer fortification. This settlement possibly got the name "Chennapatnam" as per the wishes of the Nayaka who desired to name the settlement after his father Chennappa Nayaka.

A large grey structure with numerous block columns located in the centre of the enclosure towards the east, was in fact the first Fort House of the British. The Fort House began to function as a trading warehouse in the early part of the 17th century. Much against the wishes of the East India Company, Fort St. George grew as the trade grew. The Fort House was eventually pulled down in 1693 when it showed signs of collapse and rebuilt further east which took two years. Part of the structure still exists today as the core of the present Secretariat building. By this reconstruction St. Mary's Church acquired the title of the oldest building in Madras. The fort remained as a commercial outpost with a limited defense for over a century until it was attacked and captured by the French in 1746. By 1710, the Fort had filled up with proper houses, all of them organised in neat streets to the north and south of the main building.

In 1746, in a siege, the French destroyed a part of the Black Town. During the unsuccessful siege of the French, for the second time, in 1758, many buildings were considerably damaged and most of them lost their upper floors. The St. Mary's Church was the only one that survived.

Hectic reconstruction and new constructions followed for two decades. The King's Barracks was the biggest of them all spreading over 10,000 sq.meters. By 1783, the Fort was very much as it is today. The three-storied structure, housed the Governor's residence in the uppermost floor, with rooms for the Council in the lower ones. In 1714 a detached gallery of rooms was constructed, enclosing the central building into what was known as the Fort Square. In 1790 the Exchange building, now called the Fort Museum, was constructed. The Fort was now self-sufficient. During this phase, the walls too were strengthened. The western front was completely altered. To extend the western side, the course of the Elambore River was diverted by filling the riverbed and the fort turned from square into pentagon shape. A wet ditch or moat was then dug around the main curtain wall and around each of the ravelins and lunettes.

However no further additions were made until 1825, when wings appeared on either side of the western portion of the building overlooking the Parade Square behind. In 1910 a second floor over the wings and the magnificent Assembly Hall to the east with numerous black columns were added enhancing its facade. This ornately decorated Assembly Hall continues to function effectively to this day.

Until the late 19th century, the sea line was very close to the eastern wall. Goods were embarked on the short stretch of sand before the Sea Gate in the centre of the fortification on this side. When the sea began to recede with the building of the harbour in the late 19th century, a road was formed in front of the Fort. The old Sea Gate, whose iron-studded doors had remained closed for a long time, was considered too small and was substituted by two newer ones on either side called the North and South Sea Gates in 1930. The unused small centre gate was sealed with bricks in 1942, for fear of invasion by the Japanese.

Kanagi Statue

Kanagi Statue

Dusted off the museum dungeons and given a fresh coat of paint, Kannagi is back on her proud pedestal on the scenic Marina shores (of Chennai) striking her famous pose — right hand clenching the ruby-crusted anklet, pointing out imperiously. But even after her dramatic return to Chennai’s landscape, at a gala function by CM M Karunanidhi on his birthday on June 3, Kannagi is still in the news. Reacting to a muted warning by Karunanidhi against ‘critics’ of Tamil culture, DMK workers today set fire to copies of Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil weekly, for daring to criticise the new government’s move to get Kannagi back on her perch.

The first spark was lit by N Y Sankaran (who goes by the pseudonym, Gnani), who in his column in the Tamil weekly compared DMK’s ‘passion’ for Kannagi to ‘‘some children who never outgrew a teddy bear.’’

Kannagi is the legendary heroine of the ancient Tamil literary work ‘Silapathigaram’ written by Ilango Adigal. Seen as an enduring symbol of Tamil culture and chastity, her statue was installed in 1968 during the DMK regime under C N Annadurai. But the statue suddenly disappeared in December 2001 when the AIADMK was in power with rumours abounding that it had been removed after warnings of doom by astrologers and ‘vaastu’ experts close to Jayalalithaa.


According to Silapathigaram, Kannagi’s husband Kovalan was beheaded on the orders of the King of Madurai after being accused of stealing the queen’s anklet (with pearls inside) and selling it. Kannagi went to the King’s court to demand justice and proved to him that Kovalan was trying to sell her anklet, which had rubies and not pearls inside it. While the King and queens die of remorse, Kannagi burned down Madurai with a curse.

In his column, Gnani wondered how Kannagi accepting her husband Kovalan, who returned after deserting her for 10 years for a courtesan, Madhavi, was relevant to present day situation. Today, a marriage is termed dead if a husband deserts his wife for more than seven years. He also asked what the crime of the people of Madurai was that they had to die too. Gnani equated the ‘mystery’ of the statue’s disappearance during Jayalalithaa’s regime to the ‘yellow shawl’ always worn by Karunanidhi.

The columnist’s views evoked a sharp reaction from Karunanidhi, who warned against ‘‘playing with fire by provoking Tamil sentiments.’’ The statue, which had been installed taking into consideration its ‘‘hoary tradition’’ had been treated like ‘‘a beggar’’ by the previous government, he said. ‘‘Tamil had fallen into ruins (during the previous regime). Instead of giving a helping hand some people are hindering the process,’’ Karunanidhi said during the Saturday function when the Kannagi statue was reinstalled