Fort St. George
The Fort St. George ( Tamil புனித ஜார்ஜ் கோட்டை ) is a fortress in Chennai (Madras), the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . It was laid out by the British in 1640 and became the nucleus of the city that began to grow around the fortress. Significantly expanded in the 18th century, Fort St. George is a historically significant testimony to the country's colonial history. Today the fort houses, among other things, the parliament and government of the state of Tamil Nadu as well as a museum.
history
Fort St. George was built after the British East India Company bought a piece of land from a local ruler in 1639 in order to establish a trading post there. The British then built a first fort, which was little more than a fortified warehouse. The fort was inaugurated on April 23, 1640, St. George's Day , and named Fort St. George after St. George , the national saint of England . Fort St. George became the headquarters of the Madras Presidency (officially Presidency of Fort St. George ), one of three administrative units of the British East India Company alongside Bombay and Bengal . A settlement soon developed around the fort, which was to become the nucleus of the city of Madras ( Chennai ).
After the British began to rival France for supremacy in southern India in the 18th century , Fort St. George was conquered by the French in 1746 during the First Carnatic War under Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais . After the French withdrew, the fortifications were strengthened so that the fort survived another siege by the French under Thomas Arthur de Lally-Tollendal from 1758-1759 . Further construction work took place until 1783, which gave the fort its current size.
After the Madras Legislative Council had been set up in 1921 as Parliament of the Madras Presidency, now as a province of British India no longer subordinate to the British East India Company, but directly subordinate to the British Crown, it began to meet in Fort St. George. After Indian independence in 1947, Fort St. George remained the seat of government and parliament of the state of Madras, which was reformed in 1956 and renamed Tamil Nadu in 1967 . Under the DMK government of M. Karunanidhis , a new complex for parliament and government, the Omandurar Government Estate , was built and inaugurated in 2010. After the election victory of the AIADMK in 2011, the new head of government J. Jayalalithaa arranged for the parliament and government of Tamil Nadu to move back to Fort St. George.
investment
Fort St. George is located in the center of Chennai north of the mouth of the Cooum River between the George Town district in the north, the port area in the east and an uninhabited river island of the Cooum in the southwest. A double rampart from the 18th century with ravelins surrounds the complex. The former moat is now dry. Three gates, San Thome Gate, Wallajah Gate and St. George's Gate lead into the fortress in the south, while the Sea Gate is the main entrance in the east . The fortress walls enclose an area of 17 hectares. Within the complex there are a number of buildings from different eras.
Fort House
In the center of Fort St. George stands Fort House , which is now the Parliament (Assembly) of Tamil Nadu and the Secretariat (Secretariat) , the governing body of the state houses. The building, which has been expanded several times, originally served as the residence of the British governor. The oldest parts of the Fort House date from the end of the 17th century. 1825 two side wings were added in 1910, the building was increased to two floors and the Plenary Hall (Assembly Hall) grown. The Fort House received its facade with columns made of polished black charnockite . They had previously been part of a colonnade of columns brought from Pondicherry in 1732 . The complex also includes some rather unadorned extensions from the 1970s. There is a 46 meter high flagpole in front of the Fort House . The original teak flagpole, erected in 1687, was replaced by a metal mast in 1994.
Fort Museum
The Fort Museum is located in the northeastern part of the fortress in a building from the 1780s. The current museum building originally housed the Bank of Madras, founded in 1683, and the Fort Exchange commodity exchange . A lighthouse was in operation on the roof of the building until 1841 . From 1861 the building served as an officers' mess, and the Fort Museum was opened in 1948. Paintings, sculptures, weapons, coins, medals, uniforms and other objects from the British colonial era are on display.
St. Mary's Church
St. Mary's Church is located in the southern part of Fort St. George . Consecrated on October 28, 1680, St. Mary's Church is the oldest Anglican church in Asia. The church is built in the style of English classicism . The church tower was initially erected free-standing in 1701 and was not structurally connected to the church until 1760. In 1795 the church tower received its current spire, the shape of which resembles an obelisk . The courtyard area in front of the church is paved with gravestones from the oldest British cemetery, which was closed in 1763. Below is the tombstone of Elizabeth Baker, who died in 1652, wife of Madras Aaron Baker's first president , with the oldest surviving British inscription in India.
Clive House and Wellesley House
The building called Clive's House in the western part of the fort is named after Robert Clive . It was in this house that Clive, who later played a major role in establishing British power as a general, lived in 1744 while he was working as a secretary in Madras. Later it housed the British Admiralty , today it is housed in the Archaeological Survey of India building. Wellesley House , built in 1796 and where Arthur Wellesley , who would later win the Battle of Waterloo , stayed during the Fourth Mysore War , has largely fallen into disrepair.
literature
- S. Muthiah: Madras that is Chennai. Gateway to the South. Chennai: Ranpar Publishers, 2005. pp. 12-29.
Web links
Coordinates: 13 ° 4 ′ 47 ″ N , 80 ° 17 ′ 13 ″ E