Fort William

Fort William is a must visit tourist attraction place of Calcutta.

Fort William is a fort built in Calcutta on the Eastern banks of the River Hooghly, the major distributary of the River Ganges, during the early years of the Bengal Presidency of British India. It was named after King William III of England. In front of the Fort is the Maidan, which used to be a part of the Fort and is the largest urban park in Calcutta.

Architecture of the Monument

There are actually two forts, the old and the new. The original was built by the British East India Company under the supervision of John Goldsborough. Sir Charles Eyre started construction near the bank of the River Hooghly with the South-East Bastion and the adjacent walls.

Situated at the banks of river Hooghly, it was named after King William III of England. Fort William of Kolkata, India, was established during the tenure of British Raj in 1696. It was the guardroom of this two-storied building, where the black hole tragedy took place. During the Plassey war in 1757, Siraj Ud Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal attacked on the fort and defeated the Britishers. This paved way for the construction of a new fort by British.

Fort William is one of Kolkata's most enduring Raj era edifice. This is a fort of stupendous dimensions and is spread over an area of 532 bighas. It was built by Robert Clive in the year 1781. Fort William has the dubious distinction of being the only fort in the world from where not a single shot was fired. Fort William being located in the heart of Kolkata.

Today this magnificent fort located in the periphery of the lush green Maidan is the property of Indian Army. The headquarters of Eastern Command is based at Fort William and it has provisions for accommodating 10,000 army personnel. A trip inside this impregnable fort has history written all over. From the time you enter Fort William till the time you are inside, you will be transported to an altogether different era. Today, a visit to Fort William will enable you to rekindle that unmistakable Raj era charm. A charm which still lingers on in Kolkata even after five decades of independence from colonial rule.

Inside the Fort as you walk through the main boulevard, you will come across disciplined and impeccably dressed Indian Army personnel carrying out their military duties in the true spirit of patriotism. The tall and sturdy jawans manning the fort are always very courteous to visitors and tourists alike.

Fort William, Kolkata is able to accommodate a garrison of 10,000 men and has huge green expanse, stretching 3 km north to south and is over a km wide, gives lung space to the chocked city. For the tourist, there is a museum housing arms and armors, swords, muskets and machine-guns. Another section has photographs of the Burma campaign and of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Arsenal inside is worth visiting with a prior permission required from the Commanding Officer of Fort William, Kolkata.

Source: Wikipedia

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