Calcutta : Chitpur Road neighborhoods / Kolkata Heritage Photo Project ; edited by Peter Bialobrzeski ; translations: Melissa Hause, Barbara Holle.

Second edition.

Ostfildern : Hatje Cantz, [2015]

143 pages : 74 color photographs ; 24 x 31 cm

In 19th-century Calcutta, a financially strong Indian elite emerged under the rule of the British East India Company, building up eclectic Bengali equivalents of industrialists' mansions, apparent stylistic blends of traditional Mughal architecture with more classical elements. Today the erstwhile magnificent villas and palaces retain only a shred of their former splendor, and it seems only a matter of time before the last stony reminders of a once brilliant Bengali upper middle class disappear for good. Under the guidance of Peter Biaolobrzeski, 21 photography students from the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany, captured the fading, crumbling grandeur of this culturally rich heirloom as part of the Kolkata Heritage Photo Project. On April 22, 2007, the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote, If Calcutta had the appeal of Havana, its palaces would long ago have become the subject of various coffee-table books. With Calcutta, such a book is finally available.

Multiple languages; English; German

March 09, 2021

Exhibition catalogs.