Mumbai’s most impressive architecture

  Gateway of India
 

The bold basalt Gateway of India arch, completed in 1924, is derived from the Islamic styles of 16th-century Gujarat. Ironically, the gateway's British architects used it just 24 years later to parade off their last British regiment, as India marched towards independence. These days, the gateway is a favourite gathering spot for locals and a top spot for people-watching. (Richard I’Anson/LPI)

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
 
Imposing, exuberant and overflowing with people, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) is Mumbai’s most extravagant Gothic building, the beating heart of the city’s railway network and an aphorism for colonial India. It is a meringue of Victorian, Hindu and Islamic styles whipped into an imposing, Daliesque structure of buttresses, domes, turrets, spires and stained-glass windows. It was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 2004. (Orien Harvey/LPI)

St Thomas’ Cathedral
  Recently restored to its former glory, this charming cathedral is the oldest English building standing in Mumbai (construction began in 1672, though it remained unfinished until 1718). The cathedral is an interracial marriage of Byzantine and colonial-era architecture, and its airy, whitewashed interior is full of exhibitionist colonial memorials. A look at some of the gravestones reveals many colonists died young of malaria. (Huw Jones/LPI)

Haji Ali Mosque
 
Floating like a sacred mirage off the coast, the Haji Ali Mosque is one of Mumbai's most striking shrines. Built in the 19th Century, it contains the tomb of the Muslim saint Haji Ali. A long concrete causeway reaches into the Arabian Sea, providing access to the mosque, but at high tide, water covers the causeway and the mosque becomes an island. (Orien Harvey/LPI)

Elephanta Island
 
The rock-cut temples on Elephanta Island are a Unesco World Heritage Site and worth crossing the waters for. Home to a labyrinth of cave-temples carved into the basalt rock of the island, the artwork represents some of the most impressive temple carving in all of India. The enormous central bust of Shiva, its eyes closed in eternal contemplation, may be the most serene sight you witness in India. (Richard I’Anson/LPI)

High Court
 
A hive of daily activity, the High Court is an elegant 1848 neo-Gothic building. The design was inspired by a German castle and was obviously intended to dispel any doubts about the authority of the justice dispensed inside, though local stone carvers presumably saw things differently: they carved a one-eyed monkey fiddling with the scales of justice on one pillar. (Mick Elmore/LPI)

University of Mumbai
 
Looking like a 15th-century French-gothic masterpiece plopped incongruously among Mumbai's palm trees, University of Mumbai (still commonly known as Bombay University) was designed by Gilbert Scott of London's St Pancras Station fame. It is possible to take a peek inside both the exquisite University Library and Convocation Hall, but the 80m-high Rajabai Clock Tower, decorated with detailed carvings, is off limits. (Huw Jones/LPI)

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya

 
Mumbai’s biggest and best museum, this domed behemoth is an intriguing hodgepodge of Islamic, Hindu and British architecture displaying a mix of dusty exhibits from all over India. Opened in 1923 to commemorate King George V’s first visit to India back in 1905, its flamboyant Indo-Saracenic style was designed by George Wittet – who also did the Gateway of India. (David CollinsLPI)

Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue
 
Built in 1884, this impossibly sky-blue synagogue still functions and is tenderly maintained by the city’s dwindling Jewish community. One of two built in the city by the Sassoon family (the other is in Byculla), the interior is wonderfully adorned with colourful pillars, chandeliers and stained-glass windows – best viewed in the afternoons when rainbows of light shaft through. (Mick Elmore/LPI)

Nehru Centre
  This cultural complex includes a decent planetarium, theatre, gallery and the serpentine-but-interesting history exhibition “Discovery of India”. The architecture is striking: the tower looks like a giant cylindrical pineapple, and the planetarium resembles a UFO. (Mick Elmore/LPI)

Source: BBC