Wellington Fountain is a listed heritage structure in front of Maharashtra Police Headquarters at Shyamaprasad Mukherjee Chowk in

Fort, Mumbai Fort is a business and art district in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. The area gets its name from the defensive fort, Fort George, built by the British East India Company around Bombay Castle. The area extends from the docks in the east, to ...

, which is part of Mumbai's Victorian ensemble that is a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. It was erected in 1865 to commemorate the visits of

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ...

, who came to India in 1801 and 1804. The fountain is built in Neoclassical style with

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

. It has two tiers and the lower tier has eight

bas reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

depicting the duke's victories. The top tier is made out of metal and features

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

leaves. There are

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscriptions on the fountain that celebrate the achievements of the duke. In 2016-17, a team led by the conservation architect Vikas Dilawari restored the fountain, and multiple layers of paint were removed from the basalt structure. However, the water engineering system was intact at the time of restoration. The project was funded by Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, and was awarded the Honourable Mention under the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

References

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External links

A walk around Wellington Circle - Google Arts & Culture

Fountains in Mumbai 1865 sculptures Buildings and structures completed in 1865 Stone sculptures Outdoor sculptures in India UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards winners The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai