This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Kala Ghoda (IPA:K??? Gh???) is a crescent-shaped art district in Downtown Mumbai.It has a large number of the city's heritage buildings, and is full of museums, art galleries and educational institutions.like the Jehangir Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Modern Art, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and The Arts Trust. Each year, the area hosts the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. The area is sandwiched between Mumbai Port's docklands to the east, Regal Cinema to the south, Fountain to the north and Oval Maidan to the west. The Bombay Stock Exchange is to its north east.
The name Kala Ghoda means Black Horse, a reference to the presence of a black stone statue of King Edward VII (as the then Prince of Wales) mounted on a horse that was built by Jewish businessman and philanthropist Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, although this statue was removed from the precinct in 1965 and subsequently placed inside the Byculla Zoo. In 2017, the 'Kala Ghoda' returned to the area with a new statue of a similar looking horse without a rider, being commissioned by the Kala Ghoda Association. The statue, titled 'Spirit of Kala Ghoda' was designed by architect Alfaz Miller and sculpted by Shreehari Bhosle.
The Esplanade Mansion, India's oldest surviving cast iron building, is in Kala Ghoda. Formerly known as Watson's Hotel, it was the site where films were introduced to India with a screening of the Lumiere Brothers Cinematograph in 1896. The offices of art publication, Marg, are on the third floor of the historic Army and Navy Building.[5]
Prior to the founding of the Bombay Stock exchange, merchants often traded shares at the junction of Rampart row and Meadow street.[6]
Landmarks
Prominent landmarks include:
- Esplanade Mansion, once Mumbai's premier and pioneering Watson's Hotel
- Bajaj Art Gallery
- Bombay Natural History Society
- Jehangir Art Gallery and the Pavement Gallery
- Prince of Wales Museum, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya; (??????? ?????? ?????? ??????????????), the main museum in Mumbai
- National Gallery of Modern Art
- Elphinstone College
- Rhythm House
- Max Müeller Bhavan – Indo-German cultural centre
- Army & Navy Building, housing the Westside shopping store
- David Sassoon Library
- Ropewalk Street
- Knesseth Eliyahoo Synagogue
- St. Andrew and Columba's Church
- Lions Gate
- K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, Asia's oldest library and research archive exclusively devoted to Indo-Iranian and Zoroastrian studies
- Mumbai University
- Civil and Sessions Court
- The Great Western Building, formerly Admiralty House.