Coronation Park in Delhi: A site of lost colonial relics and forgotten British glory

Once the symbol of Britain’s imperial grandeur, the Coronation Park in Delhi is now an abandoned site for the locals to take strolls, go cycling and scribble the old walls with their names. The 52-acre land was built as a memorial to remember the legacy of the mighty British Empire, but today the site stands as a lost relic of the Raj.

The park is located 17 km away from the hustle and bustle of Connaught Place and 19 km from India Gate, in New Delhi’s Burari area. The landscaped site that is maintained by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is dotted with monuments, paved pathways, plants and trees.

A large tricolour flag stands tall at the entrance of this British-era memorial which welcomes visitors with free entry.
The Coronation Park was named so, as it witnessed three coronations of British monarchs.

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First in 1877, when Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India, then, in 1903, when the accession of King Edward VII was celebrated. The last coronation at the site was of King George V as Emperor of India in 1911. The last celebration was attended by all princely states.

Relic of lost history

Delhi was chosen as the site of the park because the city boasted a great historical legacy for such royal activities. It held many durbars, an Indian imperial-style mass assembly, which was a perpetuation of a tradition by the ousted Hind and Mughal rulers.

The first Durbar was initiated by Lord Lytton, the then Viceroy of India. It was held in 1877 to mark the proclamation of Queen Victoria as Empress of India and to instil “order and discipline” in Delhi. The Durbar was an extravaganza of pomp and ceremony including an elephant parade in the presence of 70,000 people.

Apart from coronations and durbars, the Queen-Empress, Mary of Teck, used to bestow the Kaisar-i-Hind medal upon all the Governors of the provinces at the site. The Queen also laid the foundation stone for the Viceroy’s residence, which was later changed to being a flood-prone area.

Graveyard of statues and missing plaques

The park has the largest and tallest statue of King George V, which was moved here in the mid-1960s from a site opposite India Gate in the centre of New Delhi. The statue stands opposite the obelisk called the Coronation Memorial, which commemorates the 1911 Durbar when George V laid the foundation stone for the new capital city of New Delhi.

The obelisk is made of sandstone and stands erect over a high-rise square plinth with steps on all four sides. Giving this structure company, there are statues of four Viceroys in stone- Lord Hardinge, Lord Willingdon, Lord Irwin, and Lord Chelmsford.

Some of these statues have missing plaques or washed-away letters on them. Visitors have used the plinths to scribble their names all over.

The desolate park stands in stark contrast to the heavy traffic of northern Delhi's urban sprawl as people are generally unaware of its place in the history of the country.

Conservation measures

In 2005, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the Government of Deli resolved to restore Coronation Park, which was in a state of neglect.

DDA prepared a Draft Zonal Development Plan for the area to develop it as a tourist spot since it is very close to the National Highway 1 (NH1) bypass. In 2017, however, after missing several project deadlines, the park largely remained in a state of neglect.

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