Summary:
Vadodara: It was a gift that the Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III had given to the Baroda state over a century back. Later, the university hired two other architects – both of whom eventually left the project without finishing the work.Finally, it was university’s construction division which completed the restoration project in July 2005. But all efforts of conserving this heritage structure, which is a prominent landmark for M S University and the city, have always remained a jinxed affair.The central dome of Faculty of Arts - Asia's second largest masonry dome structure, was designed by British architect R F Chisholm in 1880s. However, even this project was mired in controversies. But over the years, the plaster of dome surface had started de-bonding, masonry had got exposed while fungus and algae had started covering the entire surface even as rainwater used to get collected in the base of the double dome structure in the gap between the inner and outer dome.In the early 2000, the first effort to conserve the double dome structure had started with Faculty of Arts starting a fund-raising campaign for restoration..