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Published: December 28th 2007
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Chennai is the capital city of Tamilnadu state in South India.
It was on a Sunday morning when we decided to drive down the sea shore along the long marina beach and just thought why we don’t we visit the Fort. The date Jan' 1 st 2004 !
Though we have been living in the city of Chennai for a pretty long time we have never visited this Fort so far and we now decided to make it. We have passed through the majestic fort several times but never attempted to go in. Before I start off, many people of Chennai have not seen this place like it always happens that you tend to miss the spots around your own city.
Now some facts on the fort, the museum and the Church which form the three main attractions over here.
The first bastion of British power in India now houses the Tamilnadu Legislative assembly and council and offices of the State's secretariat.
The fort was first completed in 1654 but owes its present shape to the re modeling work that was undertaken in 1749. The 6 meter high walls of the fort have withstood several fierce sieges.
The fort was attacked by Daud Khan, general of Emperor Aurangzeb, in 1701, by the Marathas in 1741 and by Hyder Ali on several occasions in the late 18th century.
Fort St. George in Chennai, unlike a fort, is an arbitrary area enclosed by a gigantic stonewalls. Many empire-builders namely, Robert Clive, Thomas Pitt, Elihu Yale had resided in the Fort St. George. The Fort St. George, in fact, has played an important role in the expansion of the British territory in India. Certainly, Fort St. George in Chennai has a long history embedded under its roots.
In 1746, the British lost possession of their fort for two year period when they surrendered the keys to the victorious French admiral, La Bourbonnais. The keys were restored only in 1749, under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Fort St. George's towering flagstaff is, even today, the tallest in India. Glimpses of early Chennai are preserved in Clive Corner, Wellesley House, Fort Museum and St. Mary's church
The first building seen on entering the fort through the Sea Gate is the neo-classical Secretariat, which today is the seat of the Government of Tamil Nadu. It has witnessed several
chief ministers over the years. Behind it lie the Legislative Council Chambers. With their handsome classical lines and black pillars, these impressive buildings, built between 1694 and 1732, are said to be among the oldest surviving British constructions in India. The 45-metre flagstaff was erected by Governor Elihu Yale in 1687 to hoist the Union Jack for first time in India.
St Mary's Church, also part of the fort complex, was the first English church in India. Opposite is the pay accounts office, which was formerly the house of Robert Clive, the key figure in the establishment of British India. This is now renovated and looks lovely, lot of restoration techniques have gone in to making this.
Noted addded on 19 th Mar 2011 >> This Church is now renovated now and looks stunning.
Fort St. George in Chennai was built in the year 1640 by the British East India Company, under the supervision of Francis Day and Andrew Cogon. Fort St. George of Chennai was named after St. George, the patron saint of England, and it is deemed as one of the prominent tourist spots in Chennai. It was the most powerful symbol of the British
Empire in its early days in India.
Fort St. George in Chennai is divided into two distinct divisions:
St. Mary's Church - St. Mary's Church, within the Fort St. George, was established in 1680, and it is one of the oldest churches in India. The tombstones that are found within the premises of the Fort St. George are among the oldest tombstones of British origin in India. Nowhere in India do we find such ancient tombstones. We also found that the earliest tombs were of Portuguese and Dutch who ruled prior to the British!
The Fort Museum - has a fascinating collection of memorabilia from the days of the British Raj. The banqueting hall upstairs (built in 1802) has paintings of Fort St George's governors and officials of the British regime.
We went around the museum and had a look at all the collections and clicked some snaps also. It is an old building of three floors and full of paintings and statues of the British rulers and the one which really attracted us was that of the Queen Elizabeth.
It has a large repository of arms and armaments. Besides, the
museum at Fort St. George exhibits a wide range of artifacts dating back to the British period. These artifacts comprise of:
• Uniforms
• Manuscripts
• Paintings
• Letters
• Coins
• Medals
• Weapons
• Canons
• Shields, etc.
Looking at these artifacts takes you back to the British days' style of living.
The flag staff at Fort St. George in Chennai is the tallest in India. This 150 feet high flagstaff is made of pure teakwood; but the flagstaff that we see hoist on the monument of the Fort St. George at Chennai is a replica of the original flagstaff. Towards the southern end of the museum, there is a monument built in 1939, which was erected in the memory of the warriors who died in World War I.
The two main exhibits in a case include a fragment of the shell fired by the German Cruiser 'EMDEN' on Madras city during the First World War and the shell, which was fired in retaliation. Another interesting exhibit is the percussion cap of a bomb dropped on Madras city during the Second World War by a Japanese aircraft.
A matter of interest:
the word Emden has somehow found a place in the local Tamil language to mean some one cunning or very shrewd; they are referred as being a real EMDEN!! even to this date. Imagine how the name of a german cruiser has a place in Tamil vocabulary interesting isn't it ?
We were now outside the fort, the sprawling land around and the majestic fort overlooking the sea have witnessed several fights and events over the 350 years of its history.
Dont miss this place !
Ramz
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sankarganesh
non-member comment
amazing
st.george had enormourous historical......events...by studing this it will be more intresting