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VIDHANA SOUDHA

Vidhana Soudha, in Bangalore (Bengaluru), is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka. The construction of Vidhana Soudha is in 'Neo-Dravidian' style and incorporates elements of Indo-Saracenic, Rajasthani Jharokha and Dravidian styles.

Vidhana Soudha is the brain child of Shri Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Chief Minister of Mysore from 1951 to 1956. He visited Europe, Russia, United States and other places and got the idea of building Vidhana Soudha by incorporating various designs from the buildings he had seen. The work was supervised and executed by engineers and architects led by the then Chief Engineer, late B.R. Manickam of the Public Works Department. The building project was started in 1952 and took five thousand labourers, 1500 chisellers, masons and wood carvers four years to complete. Built entirely from Bangalore granite, it has floral motifs on stone carvings drawn from the celebrated temple craft of South India. It was completed in 1956 at a construction cost of 17.5 million rupees. Today, the annual maintenance cost is more than 20 million rupees. The building is illuminated on Sundays and public holidays.

The Vidhana Soudha has four floors above and one floor below ground level and sprawls across an area of 700 by 350 feet. Vidhana Soudha is the largest Legislative building in India. Its eastern face has a porch with 12 granite columns, 40 feet tall. Leading to the foyer is a flight of stairs with 45 steps, more than 200 feet wide. The central dome, 60 feet in diameter, is crowned by a likeness of the Indian national emblem.

The Karnataka government has constructed a replica named Vikasa Soudha to the south of the building. Initiated by the then Chief Minister S M Krishna and inaugurated in February 2005, it is intended to be an annex housing some of the ministries and legislative offices.

Opposite to Vidhana soudha is The High Court of Karnataka popularly known as Attara Kacheri. Both buildings are in the Cubbon park.

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