DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3461#0207
192 THE CHIEF TOWNS OP INDIA.
The building is constructed of a peculiar kind of
brick, specially prepared for the purpose. It is dressed
with Clmnar stone, and well covered and ornamented
inside and out with chunam, which takes a polish like
marble.
The sacred edifice was consecrated on Friday, Oc-
tober 8, 1847, being- the anniversary of the day when
the first stone was deposited in 1889.
The whole edifice is not larger than many of the
fine old parish churches in England, as Saffron Walden,
Halifax, Southwell, Manchester; but it is as large as
the necessity of the case requires. And a district or
parish church having been urgently wanted for twenty-
five years, it has been merely distributed in all its
parts so as to meet the special purposes of a cathedral?
and it is furnished and fitted up with that end in
view.
Turning back and proceeding into the interior of the
town, in a northerly and easterly direction, we find
many stately buildings, all announcing either the com-
mercial importance of Calcutta, or the ample means of
the inhabitants, the liberal spirit which has contributed
to the foundation of public institutions, or the toler-
ance which prevails in religious matters. There is the
Metcalfe Hall, a splendid edifice, raised in memory of
Lord Metcalfe, who, as acting Governor-General,
crowned a long and brilliant career of usefulness and
honour, by giving freedom to the press of India. In
this hall, is an extensive public library, the museum
and library of the Asiatic Society, and the offices and
rooms of the Agricultural Society. Then there are
Writers' Buildings, a long range of chambers, in front
of which is a spacious tank called the Loll Diggie,
fringed with trees, the Custom House, the Mint, a
building of classical form and of great extent, boast-
ing a machinery corresponding- with that of the Royal
Mint on Tower-hill, London; the Bank of Bengal; the
The building is constructed of a peculiar kind of
brick, specially prepared for the purpose. It is dressed
with Clmnar stone, and well covered and ornamented
inside and out with chunam, which takes a polish like
marble.
The sacred edifice was consecrated on Friday, Oc-
tober 8, 1847, being- the anniversary of the day when
the first stone was deposited in 1889.
The whole edifice is not larger than many of the
fine old parish churches in England, as Saffron Walden,
Halifax, Southwell, Manchester; but it is as large as
the necessity of the case requires. And a district or
parish church having been urgently wanted for twenty-
five years, it has been merely distributed in all its
parts so as to meet the special purposes of a cathedral?
and it is furnished and fitted up with that end in
view.
Turning back and proceeding into the interior of the
town, in a northerly and easterly direction, we find
many stately buildings, all announcing either the com-
mercial importance of Calcutta, or the ample means of
the inhabitants, the liberal spirit which has contributed
to the foundation of public institutions, or the toler-
ance which prevails in religious matters. There is the
Metcalfe Hall, a splendid edifice, raised in memory of
Lord Metcalfe, who, as acting Governor-General,
crowned a long and brilliant career of usefulness and
honour, by giving freedom to the press of India. In
this hall, is an extensive public library, the museum
and library of the Asiatic Society, and the offices and
rooms of the Agricultural Society. Then there are
Writers' Buildings, a long range of chambers, in front
of which is a spacious tank called the Loll Diggie,
fringed with trees, the Custom House, the Mint, a
building of classical form and of great extent, boast-
ing a machinery corresponding- with that of the Royal
Mint on Tower-hill, London; the Bank of Bengal; the