Brief History of Rajpath? Called Kingsway during British rul | Art and culture

Brief History of Rajpath?

Called Kingsway during British rule, the three-km stretch was built as a ceremonial boulevard by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, the architects of New Delhi, more than a hundred years ago.

The capital of the Raj moved to New Delhi from Calcutta in 1911, and construction continued for several years thereafter.

Lutyens conceptualised the modern imperial city centred around a “ceremonial axis”, which was named Kingsway in honour of the then Emperor of India, George V, who visited Delhi during the Durbar of 1911, where he formally proclaimed the decision to move the capital.

The nomenclature followed that of the Kingsway in London, an arterial road built in 1905, which was named in honour of King Edward VII, the father of George V.

Following Independence in 1947, the road was given its Hindi name, Rajpath, on which the Republic Day parades took place over the decades that followed.