Kolkata is a city that breathes history, its many monuments standing testimony to its colonial past. But, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—soon after she came to power in 2011, ending the 34-year communist rule in West Bengal—wanted to add newer icons and tourist attractions to the old British capital of India. Her desire, she said on several occasions, was to transform Kolkata into a London. Soon, Kolkata got its own version of the Big Ben and Madame Tussauds.
Now, the city has gone well beyond the limits of London. The 480-acre Eco-Park in Rajarhat, already an attraction for visitors with its theme gardens and urban recreational spaces, is now home to seven wonders of the world, or at least their lookalikes. On three acres here, one can see the Colosseum of ancient Rome, the Great Wall of China, Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer, the lost city of Petra in Jordan, Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and the Moai Statues of Easter Island, Chile. (The new Seven Wonders of the World list includes Peru’s Machu Picchu and Mexico’s Chichén Itzá. The Moai Statues were eighth on the list. And, the Great Pyramid of Giza was given a honorary status.)
The Colosseum of ancient Rome
The wonders have been recreated as a mega project of the West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation to give visitors, especially children, a sense of what these great structures of the world are like. A group of artisans, led by sculptor Rupchand Kundu, created these lookalikes using fibre-reinforced polymer moulded on to RCC or steel frames. The wonders section was inaugurated in November. The ticket costs Rs 60, including Rs 30 to enter the Eco-Park.
In an effort to remain true to the original, the Taj Mahal here has a garden and a water body around it, and visitors can also get a peek into its interiors. At the Great Pyramid of Giza, flanked by two other pyramids like the original, one can see mummies and the recreation of ancient Egyptian art on its walls inside.
The Great Wall of China
The 98ft Christ the Redeemer, which stands tall with its arms outstretched, in Rio de Janeiro over a magnificent 27ft pedestal has its 40ft copy here. To ensure that it conveys a sense of unparalleled grandeur, it has been built on a hillock. The monolithic human figures of Moai, created between AD 1250 and 1500, stand in hundreds along the coast of Easter Island. At the Wonders Park, there are two dozen of them dotting a meadow-like patch.
The 21,196km Great Wall of China has been copied as a 182m-long wall that rises and falls over undulating land and has gateways. The lookalike of the Colosseum, the largest amphitheatre in history that could accommodate 80,000 spectators, is 36ft high with a diameter of 50ft. Visitors, however, are not allowed inside.
Petra in Jordan is an archaeological city carved out of sandstone. The colour of these stones has given Petra its other name—Rose City. This colour has been duplicated for authenticity, and visitors are allowed to enter the model city to share the sense of awe that visitors to the original feel.
Inspired, work: Sculptor Rupchand Kundu with a model of the Moai Statues of Easter Island, Chile. Kundu and a group of artists have created lookalikes of seven wonders of the world at Eco-Park in Rajarhat.
