Flora Fountain – The fountain of glory

In the heart of the Fort district of Mumbai stands an ornamental sculpture which is a great heritage structure which is a today the hub of activity. Flora Fountain, also known as Martyr's Square is a great example of sculpture and architecture which has existed since the year 1864. This is a great blend of architecture, sculpture and water. It stands there depicting Flora who is a Roman Goddess. Built at around Rs, 47,000 today the pricely structure is beyond comparison. It was the Agri Horticultural Society of Western India that erected this. Cursetjee Fardoonjee Parekh is said to have given around Rs. 20,000 for the construction of this timeless memorial. The stone used is Portland stone and was imported. James Forsythe sculpted this and today it has an oil paint coating.

The square is a place where there are five streets intersecting. Very similar to the Piccadilly Circus junction, the Flora fountain is also known as the Piccadilly Circus of Mumbai. It was rechristened as Hutatma Chowk in memory of all those brave people who had laid down their lives in the freedom for getting the State of Maharashtra in the year 1960.  A patriotic emblem, it is flanked by various heritage buildings of the British era and is a much a part of the city of Mumbai and is the major landmark in this area. Visitors are often charmed by the absolute beauty of the place and the entire place is very colonial in effect and takes you back to the glory of the past.

Flora, the roman goddess of flowers has a lovely face made of alabaster and is witness to a lot of history, glory, crime, pollution and day to day affairs. There are two stone structures next to the main structure. These two structures show the torch bearers representing the stone patriots who are seen to come out of the Martyrs Memorial which lies nearby.

Laden with all this information, when I went to the Flora

Fountain, I found the entire place much more beautiful than its description on paper. There was something about this place which set me thinking. It is the mystical effect of the entire place and there is a lot of enchantment about the structure in particular and the ambience in general. Even with the blazing sun, the structure stands there radiating a lot of positivity and elegance. With the vendors who sat around the place selling anything from a safety pin to gold, the place was the best place where we could things at a cheap rate and you could just indulge in a lot of itsy bitsy shopping. The entire place was agog with the sound of horns, people rushing here and there and vendors calling out their wares to be sold. The whole area is a place of absolute hubbub and the marble structure is the only semblance to beauty and stands there tall witnessing the organized chaos down.

To reach Flora fountain you can reach the <a title="Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus" href="http://www.traveladda.com/west_india/maharashtra/

monuments/chhatrapati_shivaji_terminus.html” target=”_blank”>Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station or the Churchgate station and reach by a taxi, or a bus. It is on D.N. Road in the Fort area. The best time to visit this place is all through the year.

As I walked across the busiest place in the city of Mumbai, I was quite intrigued by the lovely aesthetic value of the structure which had the best example of marble construction. With the fountain jutting out of the structure, there was certainly hypnotism about the whole area which was unmistakable. This is the reason the structure seems totally unaffected by the amount of chaos around yet is able to remain as calm as the quietness of a still sea.

The structure I knew had been built in honor of Sir Bartle Frere who was then the Governor of India. The structure is a representation of prosperity and abundance as Flora the Roman Goddess depicts this. There is a certain timeless value to this place and especially the structure and this is something to be certainly experienced. The splendor around this area in spite of the fact that it is old is what makes Mumbai the city that it is. It surely deserves a heritage status and anyone who is a true resident of Mumbai surely would have every reason to be proud of this structure and the place.

Before the Flora Fountain, there was the original Church Gate of Bombay Fort here. Today this is a witness to several important buildings like the Bombay University and also the Old Secretariat all which lie in and around the Flora Fountain. Of course, you should also go to the Gateway of India, if you are here. The fountain area as it is called is the major place of activity in Mumbai and has all the important financial institutions, business houses and the country’s most important stock exchange – the BSE.

I was certainly very happy to have come to Mumbai and seen this structure in so much detail.