Gateway of India

The Gateway of India sits on the edge of the Arabian Sea, marked by a massive basalt arch standing eighty-five feet tall. George Wittet designed the structure to commemorate the nineteen eleven visit of King George the Fifth and Queen Mary, the first British monarchs to set foot in India. Builders finished the work in nineteen twenty-four, and seventeen years later, the last battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry marched through this same arch, marking the formal end of British colonial rule in the country.