Structures Along The Beach
Being the city's primary area for recreation, the entire stretch features numerous statues and monuments that have come up over the years along the beach promenade, called Kamarajar Salai. While the beach stretches along the eastern side of the road, the western side is dotted with various governmental institutions and historic and stately buildings from the British rule all along its length. Victory War Memorial, a memorial for the warriors who lost their lives in the World Wars, marks the northern end of the beach. Memorials for C N Annadurai and M G Ramachandran, former Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, are present on the northern end of the promenade known as the Anna Square. All along the length of the promenade, stone statues adorn the roadside area of the beach starting from the Triumph of Labour statue, the first statue erected in the beach, near the memorials at the Anna Square to Mahatma Gandhi statue near the lighthouse. Most statues are of national or local legends while others have symbolic significance like the Triumph of Labour statue. The statues along the promenade are:
- Triumph of Labour (erected on 25 January 1959)
- Thiruvalluvar
- Robert Caldwell
- Constanzo Beschi (Veerama Munivar) (erected on 2 January 1968)
- Subramaniya Barathiyar
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- George Uglow Pope (erected on 2 January 1968)
- Annie Besant
- Bharathidasan
- Kamarajar
- Avvaiyar (erected on 2 January 1968)
- Thanthai Periyar
- Kannagi (erected in 1968/re-erected in 2006)
- Swami Vivekananda (erected on 12 July 1964)
- Mahatma Gandhi (erected on 14 April 1959)
On 21 July 2006, a statue of the legendary Tamil actor Sivaji Ganesan was erected at the junction of Kamarajar Salai–Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai near the lighthouse.
The other side of the road houses several historical buildings and institutions including:
- M.A.Chidambaram Cricket Stadium, Chepauk (Chennai)
- University of Madras–Chepauk Campus
- Public Works Department (PWD) Complex
- Presidency College
- University of Madras–Marina Campus
- Vivekananda House
- Lady Wellington School
- Queen Mary's College
- Inspector General of Police Headquarters
- Forensic Science Department
- All India Radio, Chennai
Other structures along the beach include:
- Anna Swimming Pool
- Marina Swimming Pool
- Aquarium
- Marina Cricket Ground
- Dr. Annie Besant Park
Read more about this topic: Marina Beach
Famous quotes containing the words structures and/or beach:
“The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in its totality, in its structure: posterity discovers it in the stones with which he built and with which other structures are subsequently built that are frequently better—and so, in the fact that that structure can be demolished and yet still possess value as material.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)