⁣The India Gate (originally the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located astride the Rajpath, on the eastern edge of the “ceremonial axis” of New Delhi, formerly called Kingsway. ⁣
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It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of the triumphal arch such as the Arch of Constantine, in Rome, and is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.⁣
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The foundation stone of the gate, then called the All India War Memorial, was laid on 10 February 1921, by the visiting Duke of Connaught in a ceremony attended by Officers and Men of the British Indian Army, Imperial Service Troops, the Commander in Chief, and Chelmsford, the viceroy.⁣
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Ten years after the foundation stone laying ceremony, on 12 February 1931, the memorial was inaugurated by Lord Irwin.⁣
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It’s 42-metre (138-foot)-tall India gate, stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge moulding. ⁣
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It stands as a memorial to 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in between 1914–1918 in the First World War, 13,300 servicemen’s names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom. The Walls of India Gate have the names of all the martyred soldiers inscribed on them.⁣
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Following the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1972, structure consisting of a black marble plinth with a reversed rifle, capped by a war helmet and bounded by four eternal flames, was built beneath the archway. This structure, called Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Soldier), has since 1971 served as India’s tomb of the unknown soldier. ⁣
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In 2017, the India Gate was twinned with the Arch of Remembrance in Leicester, England, another Lutyens war memorial, following a very similar design but on a smaller scale.⁣
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In July 2014, the government announced plans to construct a National War Memorial around the canopy, and a National War Museum in adjoining Princess Park. ⁣
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The cabinet allocated rupees 500 crores or about U.S. Dollars 66 Million for the project. The National War Memorial was completed in January 2019.⁣