Gateway of India

The Gateway of India is a monument in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India. Located on the waterfront in Apollo Bunder area in South Mumbai, the Gateway is a basalt arch 26 metres (85 ft) high. In earlier times, the Gateway was the monument that visitors arriving by boat would have first seen in the city of Bombay.

The central dome is 15 metres (49 ft) in diameter and is 26 metres (85 ft) above ground at its highest point.

The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay, prior to the Delhi Durbar, in December 1911. The foundation stone was laid on 31 March 1911, by the Governor of Bombay Sir George Sydenham Clarke, with the final design of George Wittet sanctioned in August 1914. Between 1915 and 1919 work proceeded on reclamations at Apollo Bundar for the land on which the gateway and the new sea wall would be built. The foundations were completed in 1920, and construction was finished in 1924. The Gateway was opened on 4 December 1924, by the Viceroy, the Earl of Reading

The last British troops to leave India, the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, passed through the Gateway in a ceremony on 28 February 1948.