Kolkata then and now: Photographer Denis D Gray captures the City of Joy and its British-era buildings
Kolkata was the seat of Britain’s power in India until the capital was shifted to Delhi. Reminders of its colonial past remain, in the form of churches and old buildings
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Photographer Denis D Gray went about the streets of Kolkata photographing the city and the remnants of the British era in it. Pictured here is a street vendor. Image from AP
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Kolkata, which houses a number of lion motifs, was the centre of British rule until the capital was shifted to Delhi in 1911. Image from AP
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A popular street-side chai seller who also offers buttered toast. Image from AP
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India’s first Supreme Court in Kolkata, completed in 1872, was housed in a building copied from the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium. Kolkata’s colonial era architecture forms a mélange of numerous European and Asian styles. Image from AP
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A vendor displaying organic honey at his little shop set up by the 17th century Writers’ Building, one of nearly 3,00,000 city structures dating back to Britain’s rule over India. Image from AP
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This building was once the home of the British viceroy who ruled over India. The vast early 19th century mansion and grounds now house the government of West Bengal State, in Kolkata, India. Image from AP
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St John’s Church is one of Kolkata’s most iconic. It was built in 1787, and its ground were the city’s first foreign cemetery. Image from AP


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