The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the
visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay, prior to the Delhi Durbar, in
December 1911. However, they only got to see only a cardboard model of the
structure since the construction did not begin till 1915. The foundation stone
was laid on 31 March 1911, by the Governor of Bombay Sir George Sydenham
Clarke, with the final design of George Wittet sanctioned on 31 March 1913. The
gateway was built from yellow basalt and concrete. Between 1915 and 1919, work
proceeded on reclamations at Apollo Bundar (Port) for the land on which the
gateway and the new sea wall would be built. The foundations were completed in
1920, and construction was finished in 1924. The gateway was opened on 4
December 1924, by the Viceroy, the Earl of Reading. The last British troops to
leave India following India's independence, the first Battalion of the Somerset
Light Infantry, passed through the gateway on their way out in a ceremony on 28
February 1948, signalling the end of its rule.
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