Fort St. George, Chennai

Fort St. George of Chennai was named after St. George, the patron saint of England, and it is deemed as one of the prominent tourist spots in Chennai.

Fort St. George in Chennai is divided into two distinct divisions :

• St. Mary's Church - St. Mary's Church, within the Fort St. George, was established in 1680, and it is one of the oldest churches in India. The tombstones that are found within the premises of the Fort St. George, are among the oldest tombstones of British origin in India. Nowhere in India do we find such ancient tombstones.
  
  
• The Fort Museum – The Fort Museum is the a large repository of arms and armaments. Besides, the museum at Fort St. George exhibits a wide range of artifacts dating back to the British period. These artifacts comprise of:
  
  
  • uniforms
  • manuscripts
  • paintings
  • letters
  • coins
  • medals
  • weapons
  • canons
  • shields, etc.
  
  
  The flag staff at Fort St. George in Chennai is the tallest in India. This 150 feet high flagstaff is made of pure teakwood; but the flagstaff that we see hoist on the monument of the Fort St. George at Chennai is a replica of the original flagstaff. Towards the southern end of the museum, there is a monument built in 1939, which was erected in the memory of the warriors who died in World War I.
  
  
• Fort St. George in Chennai, unlike a fort, is an arbitrary area enclosed by a gigantic stonewall. Many empire-builders namely, Robert Clive, Thomas Pitt, Elihu Yale had resided in the Fort St. George. The Fort St. George in fact, has played an important role in the expansion of the British territory in India.
  
  

Certainly, Fort St. George in Chennai has a long history embedded under its roots.

Last Updated on 11/2/2011