India Gate

In front of you is New Delhi's most photographed monument. Although it recalls the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, it celebrates no victory: it's a memorial. Its original name was the All India War Memorial.

1Names in stone

The Duke of Connaught laid the foundation stone on 10 February 1921, and the arch was inaugurated in 1931. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens, the architect of the new capital. Step closer to the walls: they're covered in names. These are soldiers of the British Indian Army who fell in the First World War, in France, Mesopotamia or Gallipoli, and in the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919. The memorial honours some 74,000 soldiers and bears more than 13,000 engraved names.

2The flame and the canopy

After the 1971 war with Pakistan, the Amar Jawan Jyoti, "the flame of the immortal soldier", was placed beneath the arch, with an upturned rifle and a helmet. In 2022 the flame was merged with that of the new National War Memorial, opened in 2019 a short walk from here.

Now look at the domed pavilion in front. For decades it held a statue of King George V, removed after independence. It stood empty until 2022, when a statue of Subhas Chandra Bose, a hero of the independence struggle, was installed.

An imperial arch that independent India has gradually made its own, name by name and statue by statue.

3What to look for

• The word INDIA at the top of the arch.
• The engraved names on the inner walls.
• The canopy with the statue of Bose.