From rxpgnews.com
Riverfront jazzes up with art and illuminated Howrah Bridge
By Indo Asian News Service,
Nov 24, 2006 - 4:13:44 AM
Kolkata, Nov 23 - A touch in the button of a remote control and the historic Howrah Bridge, the mute witness to a never-ending tale of two cities on either banks of the Ganges, was all lit up with a hue of magical blue and mauve as a British minister watched in wonder with his Bengal counterparts.
Inaugurated in British India in 1943, the engineering marvel and one of the busiest river bridges of the world, Howrah Bridge got a facelift Thursday evening with the permanent inauguration of its illumination by the Kolkata Port Trust - in the presence of British Minister for Trade and Investment Ian McCartney and West Bengal ministers and Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi.
The illumination of the bridge was the last work of Tapas Sen as KPT chairman A.K. Chanda recalled the contribution of the late light artist who died in June this year.
'In 2004 we made a study of 60 famous bridges of the world and we found that they look best in the evening. So started the work of enhancing the beauty of this aesthetic marvel,' Chanda said.
'Tapas Sen was ecstatic to the proposal and we could complete the work because of the advice of his son Joy Sen after his death,' he said.
Howrah Bridge was built between 1937 and 1943 to replace a bridge from 1874 and is said to be the busiest bridge in the world connecting Kolkata with the town of Howrah.
It is 97 metres high and 705 metres long. It is a cantilever truss bridge, constructed entirely by riveting, without nuts or bolts.
'Regeneration of riverfront is a challenging job and we have to meet that challenge. If a river dies, a city dies,' said McCartnery at the inauguration at Millennium Park on the bank of the Ganges -.
He also inaugurated an ambitious international arts project linking schools from across the globe at the same venue.
Both the art exhibition and the River Links Project of British Council and the lighting of the bridge were held at the Millennium Park by the Ganges.
Run by the British Council as part of its international schools work, the River Links Project connects students from eight Kolkata schools to 32 London schools and another eight schools from Chongqing City, China.
A river runs through each city - the Hooghly in Kolkata, the Thames in London and Chongqing lies at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialingjiang rivers.
A slice of history peeps through these dramatic panels inspired by the students' relationship to their city and its river, based on universal themes such as wildlife, mythology, sport, history and the environment.
The project culminated in 48 three-metre high artworks that were first displayed in London along the Thames' riverside Queens Walkway from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge from Aug 28 to Sep 17 as part of the Mayor's Thames Festival in September.
Each art panel contains a visual puzzle in which viewers are invited to spot a recurring river motif that appears in each stunning display.
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