Monuments are usually created to honour great people, socialites or in memory of specific events. Through this article I am taking you to explore one such monument which is a significant landmark of Kolkata city. This monument is known as Shaheed Minar as it is built in the form of a minaret. This spectacular monument is located at Dufferin Road close to the Esplanade (boulevard) at the Maidan in the southern part of Kolkata city. This captivating Minar quite resembles to that of great Mughal monument, Qutub Minar situated in Delhi. If you go into the history of this monument you may not be that pleased to know the reason why it was created because it was made by a British for his success on a foreign land and that is nothing to do with our country. His name was David Ochterlony and he was a commander in British East India Company. He built this monument to honour himself for winning the war with Nepal during 1814 to 1816. The monument was built in the year 1848 with a total cost of Rs. 35000. I feel strange as till today I was in impression that people build the monuments to honour the efforts of others or dedicate it to some great human being. But I guess British had some different concepts as they built monuments to praise themselves and named them after their own names. Thus this monument was called The Octerloney Monument till 1969. After twelve years of independence this monument was renamed as Shaheed Minar in order to remember the sacrifice of many freedom fighters who lost their lives for our country’s independence.The minaret represents a mixture of different architectural styles because the foundation of the minaret is built in ancient Egyptian style while the body of the minaret gives Syrian impression and the dome is in Ottoman Turkish style. So by exploring this monument you can study a variety of architectural styles from different parts of the world. The height of the Minar is 158 feet or 48 meter. The Minar goes upward in a circular shape. It has two balconies on the top level. There are circular stairs in the Minar that takes you to these balconies. To reach the first balcony you need to climb 198 steps while to reach the top most balcony you have to climb 25 more steps that make a total of 223 steps all together. The view from the balconies is overwhelming as you can see most part of the city from here.Currently this monument marks the memory of freedom fighters of India and various political parties organise political meetings, rallies, seminars and assemblies near the monument. This ritual of organising assemblies here started in the year 1931 as in that year a historical convocation held here supervised by Rabindranath Tagore. The great poet criticised the damage done by British government as they shot a youth dead in Calaboose in Hizli. From that time onwards the people started organising assemblies here.Best time to visit the monument:From October to march is the best time to pay a visit here.Permission:One needs to take prior permission from the police headquarters in Lal Bazaar if you want to climb up the tower.AddressShaheed Minar,Dufferin Road, Kolkata,West Bengal, India