Kanshi Ram Memorial to have biggest dome in India

However,the dome of Kanshi Ram Memorial — 50 metres — is one metre shorter than that of the Gol Gumbaz.

Noida-based Design Associates Inc are the architects of Kanshi Ram Memorial,which is coming up on 42 acres of land at VIP Road in Lucknow at a cost of Rs 370 crore. Construction was started in August 2007 by the UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam (UPRNN). “We were asked to design the memorial like a monument,” Matinder Sharma,architect-member of Design Associates Inc,told The Sunday Express. “We have built it in a way that the monument lasts long—at least 500 years,” he said.

The dome has been erected on a stone building with a floor area of over 6,000 sq m. “To give maximum life to this building and the dome,no iron has been used in it. The main structure of the dome is made of steel and covered with pink sandstone,” said a senior UPRNN official. “To protect the building from tremors,cell technology has been used in its foundation. In the12-metre-deep foundation,vacant spaces alternate with concrete-filled spaces,” he said.

Beneath the dome,18-feet-high bronze statues of Mayawati and Kanshi Ram will reportedly be placed on a high pedestal in the central atrium. On both sides of the atrium will be two big halls with murals of Dalit icons.

After Bhimrao Ambedkar Memorial in Gomtinagar,the Manyawar Kanshi Ram Memorial is one of the Mayawati Government’s key projects.