Summary:
The main dome and eight smaller domes cover 35,000 square feet area while the Premanand Hall named after Kavi Premanand which earlier used to act as a convocation hall is decorated with mural works. Vadodara: Bijapur might be housing – Gol Gumbaz dome - Asia's largest masonry dome structure but it is the Faculty of Arts dome at M S University designed by British architect R F Chisholm in 1880s that is aesthetically far more appealing than Gol Gumbaz.In fact, use of colours makes MSU dome - designed on the lines of Saint Peter's dome in Vatican City - more appealing than Gol Gumbaz.While exteriors of arts faculty dome that were once painted with natural colours like 'haldi' might have vanished with the passing time, interiors of the double dome structure are still better coloured than Gol Gumbaz.The Indo-Saracenic style architecture of this 144-foot high dome is said to have inspired the architecture of Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai which was completed by George Wittet in 1914.The dome itself is part of the imposing ‘E’ shaped building that had come up at the cost of Rs 8,30,150..