Embellished with lancet arches and angel sculptures, the 7 story Siberian Big Ben features four clocks that are partly covered with real gold, all of which were manufactured in England, yet their diameter is only one third of London’s tick-tocking devices. Its somewhat gritty reputation was mitigated in 2004, when the city’s school of foreign languages inaugurated its brand-new lavish edifice, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the UK parliament and its famed clock tower. The city lives up to its informal moniker, as it hosts the headquarters of some of the country’s largest gas companies as well as the world’s second largest gas-fired power station. Kolkata's Big Ben along the congested VIP Roadĭeemed as the unofficial gas capital of Russia, Surgut lies in the gas-rich Autonomous Okrug of Khanty-Mansi, in the far reaches of western Siberia. The British-style landmark soon became a pilgrimage site for curious Indians, but not without a great deal of controversy, as its many critics insist that the tower lacks any cultural context and that the city should focus on its own unique heritage rather than mimicking a foreign architecture. More than 155 years separate between the two buildings, and nowhere it is more apparent than in the way each of which was constructed, as the Indian replica’s most intricate details are in fact prefabricated cast blocks made of an ultra-strong polymeric material. Like the London-based monument, it has four sides facing each of the cardinal directions, however, the clock dial’s diameter is merely half the size of the original tower. Nestled in the intersection of VIP and Lake Town roads, the 30-meter-tall replica is the centerpiece of a citywide beautification project. In 2015, one local chief minister with the help of his party members decided to fight Kolkata’s infamously chaotic image by erecting a scale-down facsimile of the Big Ben in one of the city’s busiest junctions. ![]() ![]() Ranked as the third most populous metropolis in India with over 15 million people, Kolkata is notoriously famous for its hectic street scenery and traffic congestion.
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