The dramatic white marble Victoria Memorial (Tues-Sun: March-Oct 10am-4pm; Nov-Feb 10am-5pm; Rs5) at the southern end of the Maidan, with its formal gardens and water courses, continues to be Calcutta's pride and joy. Other colonial monuments and statues throughout the city have been renamed or demolished, but the popularity of Queen Victoria seems to endure for ever; thirty years of attempts to change the name of the "VM" have come to nothing.

 

This extraordinary hybrid building, with Italianate statues over its entrances, Moghul domes in its corners, and tall elegant open colonnades along its sides, was conceived by Lord Curzon to commemorate the empire at its peak. Designed by Sir William Emerson, it was completed in 1921. Flanked by two ornamental tanks, a sombre statue of Queen Victoria gazes out towards the Maidan from a pedestal lined with bronze panels and friezes. Faced with Makrana marble from Jodhpur, the building itself is capped by a dome bearing a revolving five-metre-tall bronze figure of Victory.

The main entrance, at the Maidan end, leads into a tall chamber beneath the dome. The 25 galleries inside burst with mementoes of British imperialism - statues and busts of Queen Mary, King George V and Queen Victoria; paintings of Robert Clive and the Queen (again); a huge canvas of the future Edward VII entering Jaipur in 1876; French guns captured at the Battle of Plassey in 1758; and the black marble throne of a nawab defeated by Robert Clive. One air-conditioned chamber, converted and renamed the Calcutta Gallery , is dedicated to the Indians of the city and the Independence struggle. The evening Sound and Light show (Tues-Sun 7.15-8pm; Rs20) concentrates on the same theme.

Admission to the Victoria Memorial's popular gardens is free during the day. After they close at dusk, the Maidan in front of the gates is transformed. A seething mass of people come to enjoy the breeze, roadside snacks, and pony and tikka (open carriage) rides, and to watch the garish musical fountains .