Howrah
Howrah is situated across the river from Calcutta, on the west bank of the Hoogly River
Howrah Bridge
The Howrah Bridge was designed to link Howrah and the city of Calcutta. The old Floating Pontoon Bridge was built by Sir Bradford Leslie in 1874. It was largely a timber construction which opened to let river traffic through.
In 1937 work began on a new bridge - which is a landmark of Kolkata (Calcutta) today, being one of the foremost cantilever bridges in the world. It was formally opened in 1943 and the old bridge was decommissioned soon after in 1946. The new bridge was renamed Rabindra Setu in 1965 to honour Rabindranath Tagore - the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. However, it is still commonly referred to as the Howrah Bridge.
Also see
External links
- Howrah Wikipedia
- A view of the Howrah Dockyard from the website of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta
Historical books online
Bengal District Gazetteers: Howrah 1909 Archive.org