Lord Curzon, Heritage Preservation, and the Making of the Victoria Memorial

In 1901, shortly after Queen Victoria died, George Curzon, viceroy of India announced that building a memorial hall and museum to honor the queen would “teach more history and better history than a study-full of books.” This talk follows how the Victoria Memorial became Curzon’s pet project, merging with his investments in heritage preservation. For Curzon, the ability of the colonial state to preserve ancient monuments for the sake of India’s heritage reaffirmed the government’s authority over public spaces, while statues to monarchs and colonial officials disseminated a history that proclaimed the virtues of empire. In the postcolony, colonial monuments are presumed a stable representation of the past; however, as I argue in this talk, the installation of colonial monuments such as the Victoria memorial often occurred in the context of anticolonial protests.