Gateway of India in Mumbai

Located on the harbour the Gateway of India is one of the most well known monuments of Mumbai. Located in the Colaba district it was designed by George Wittet and first opened in 1924 by the then Viceroy of India Rufus Isaacs.

Intended to become the triumphal arch of India it was first intended to commemorate the visit of King George V and his wife in 1911 who had landed at this location.

Symbolically the gateway also depicts the departure of the British as the last British troops to leave India departed via the gateway in 1948.

Today visitors board boards here on the way to Elephanta Islands, while the open space around the gateway is popular as a place for evening strolls as an alternative to Chowpatty Beach.

One end lines the stern-faced statue of Shivaji , the Maratha warlord who in the second half of the 17th Century, the emperor of the Mughal Empire Aurangzeb during his last years doggedly pursued. The statue is venerated and is often decorated with a marigold garland. Of the right-wing party Shiv Sena Shivaji was crowned as the "Son of the Earth" a national icon.