Mumbai: Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles
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2018: Unesco World Heritage status
HIGHLIGHTS
The feat makes Mumbai the second city in India after Ahmedabad to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
This inscription gives Mumbai the distinction of having three Unesco World Heritage Sites (Elephanta, Chhatrapati Shiva-ji Maharaj Terminus and the Victorian & Art Deco Ensembles).
It was a euphoric day for Mumbai on Saturday. Fourteen years after the idea was first mooted, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) finally declared the city’s Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles, straddling two heritage precincts of Fort and Marine Drive, a World Heritage Site.
The feat makes Mumbai the second city in India after Ahmedabad to be inscribed on the World Heritage List.
The announcement from Bahrain, where the Unesco World Heritage Committee meeting was held, came around 1pm when conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, part of the Indian delegation, sent a message to TOI: “Mumbai’s Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site.” CM Devendra Fadnavis, who had endorsed Mumbai’s nomination, said: “This is a huge victory for Mumbai.”
“We are very happy. Mumbai has always been a world city, now it’s got another Unesco heritage site,” CM Fadnavis said.
TOI was the first to report on May 5, 2018, that Unesco’s Paris-based technical adviser had recommended the prestigious tag for the enclave.
The latest inscription gives Mumbai the distinction of having three Unesco Sites, alongside Elephanta and CSMT. Maharashtra leads the states with five Unesco tags (including Ajanta and Ellora). India now has 37 World Heritage inscriptions in all.
The city’s 19th century collection of Victorian structures and 20th century Art Deco buildings includes the row of public buildings of the High Court, Mumbai University, Old Secretariat, NGMA, Elphinstone College, David Sassoon Library, Chhatrapati Shiva-ji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Western Railways headquarters, Maharashtra Police headquarters to the east of Oval Maidan and the Art Deco buildings consisting of the first row of Backbay Reclamation scheme, buildings such as the Cricket Club of India and Ram Mahal along Dinshaw Wacha Road, the iconic cinema halls of Eros and Regal and the first row of buildings along Marine Drive.
The eastern edge of the property is defined by Mahatma Gandhi Marg and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Chowk within the designated historic precinct of Fort area. This marks the edge of the 19th century fortified city of Bombay (now Mumbai). Though the fort walls were mostly torn down in the 1860s under the governorship of Sir Bartle Frere, the name persists in public memory and is a protected heritage precinct under the Heritage Regulations for Greater Bombay 1995.
The western edge of the property is defined by the Arabian sea that lines the 20th century Art Deco buildings of Backbay Reclamation and Marine Drive. The northern edge of the property is defined by Veer Nariman Road and the southern edge by Madame Cama Road.
TOI was the first to report on May 5, 2018 that Unesco’s technical adviser, the Paris-based International Council of Monuments and Sites (Icomos), had recommended the prestigious tag for the landmark south Mumbai enclave. Once Icomos gives its stamp of approval to a proposal, it is generally accepted by Unesco.
Lambah, who prepared the nomination dossier, said, “From 2004, when I first presented this idea at the Unesco conference on representation at Chandigarh, it’s been 14 long years to get all stakeholders, citizen groups and government on board to make this happen. This inscription acknowledges Mumbai’s position in the world as the finest collection of 19th and 20th century modernism; a city where heritage does not just include dead monuments but a living, breathing, dynamic urban centre with buildings in active use by citizens. This is the first case in India’s 37 world heritage sites where the nomination process was a citizen-driven initiative.”
The idea found resonance with local citizen groups: UDRI, Kala Ghoda Association, Oval Cooperage Residents Association, OVAL Trust, Nariman Point-Churchgate Citizens Association, Heritage Mile Association, Federation of Residents’ Trusts, Observer Research Foundation as well as the MMR Heritage Conservation Society. It was also endorsed by eminent Mumbaikars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Fadnavis and Shaina NC, who wrote to the Central government endorsing this nomination.
Lauding this effort as a unique partnership among citizens and government bodies in making this nomination successful, Shirin Bharucha and Nayana Kathpalia representing the various civic groups and NGOs said, “It recognizes the value of the unique Victorian Gothic and Art Deco architecture to the urban form, history and soul of a city.”
Atul Kumar of Nariman Point-Churchgate Citizens Association said, “Stakeholders and residents are delighted to celebrate a historic and milestone moment in the history of Mumbai’s Victorian and Art Deco architecture and thank the state government and Indian government for this initiative.”
The nomination dossier was submitted by the state government to the Ministry of Culture in 2014 and it was endorsed by Fadnavis. In January 2015, the CM wrote to the Centre urging it to send Mumbai’s nomination as India’s official entry to Unesco. “Mumbai’s tourism and culture would be hugely benefited if this nomination succeeds. Mumbai will be brought on the international tourist map. Being the financial capital of our country, Mumbai attracts many businessmen like London and some European cities. It would have the unique distinction of being both a financial capital and a world heritage site,” he had said.
Conservation architect Vikas Dilawari, while calling this a proud moment for the city, said the Victorian Ensemble selected and nominated was minimal. “The Fort area has much more to offer like all other public buildings facing Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan, DN Road etc. Hopefully these will be included in the next phase, just as how it started with one building — CSMT — in 2004 and has now reached an ensemble scale.”
