Calcutta International Exhibition


The Calcutta International Exhibition world's fair was held in Calcutta from the end of 1883 to March 1884.

Summary

The fair was held between 4 December 1883 and 10 March 1884. and took place in the grounds of the Indian Museum and the Maidan.
There were contributions from Belgium, Ceylon, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Straits, Turkey and U.S.A.. The Australian colonies of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria were all hosted on the Indian Museum side of the fair.
The Maidan side of the fair was connected to the Indian Museum by a bridge across the Chowinghee Road. In the Maidan there was an iron building that contained Indian courts, a machinery annex, a military shed and a refreshments room.

Indian Courts

There was a Punjab Court with contents secured by Lockwood Kipling.
The Maharajah of Scindia provided a carved sandstone gateway, the Gwalior Gateway, which after the exhibition was sent in 200 packages to London's Victoria and Albert Museum and then displayed at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886.

Officials

The fair officials included Augustus Rivers Thompson, S.T.Trevor and Jules Joubert.

Opening ceremony

The opening talk was by Lord Ripon
and was attended by Governors of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, several maharajas and the Duke and Duchess of Connaught.
The ceremony was boycotted by the Anglo-Indian community in protest at the recently introduced Ilbert Bill, it rained and the illuminations failed.