Coronation Park: Where The Statues Of The Raj Rest In Ruins

The 52-acre park is the resting place of statues of British monarchs and viceroys. They were removed from various locations in Delhi, including Rajpath. The grandest of them all is of King George V, who held the Delhi Durbar in 1911, along with Queen Mary. You can see the Coronation Pillar, a towering obelisk at the Coronation Park on Burari Road near Nirankari Sarovar in New Delhi, from afar. The park gets its name from the coronation of three successive British monarchs — from Queen Victoria in 1877 to King George V in 1911. The pillar commemorates the historic Delhi Durbar held on December 12, 1911, where the coronation of King George V took place and Delhi was announced to be the new capital of British India. The 21-metre-tall sandstone statue towers over those of British viceroys as well as King Edward V. The viceroys whose statues stand as remnants of the colonial past include Lord Hardinge, Lord Willingdon, Lord Irwin and Lord Chelmsford. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) took up the initiative to restore the park and develop it into a tourist site, in collaboration with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). It was supposed to have been redeveloped by 2011, the centenary of the last Durbar. But several missed deadlines later, it remains a work in progress.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 5 February 2022 2:59 am

Coronation Park

You can see the Coronation Pillar, a towering obelisk at the Coronation Park on Burari Road near Nirankari Sarovar in New Delhi, from afar. The park gets its name from the coronation of three successive British monarchs — from Queen Victoria in 1877 to King George V in 1911. The pillar commemorates the historic Delhi Durbar held on December 12, 1911, where the coronation of King George V took place and Delhi was announced to be the new capital of British India. The 21-metre-tall sandstone statue towers over those of British viceroys as well as King Edward V. The viceroys whose statues stand as remnants of the colonial past include Lord Hardinge, Lord Willingdon, Lord Irwin and Lord Chelmsford. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) took up the initiative to restore the park and develop it into a tourist site, in collaboration with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). It was supposed to have been redeveloped by 2011, the centenary of the last Durbar. But several missed deadlines later, it remains a work in progress.