La Martiniere “labor et Constantia”

La Martiniere
Architecture
The finest and the largest example of European funerary monument
in the subcontinent, La Martiniere is one of Lucknow's most
distinctive architectural survivals.
Adopting the salient features of Italian Architecture and blending
them with the indigenous Muslim styles, Claude Martin himself
designed the building. This was perhaps the first building of the
European Order to be built in Northern India.
Described by one observer as a product of "the heterogeneous fancies
of a diseased brain", La Martiniere is an eclectic mishmash of
architectural styles and flavors. Startled looking lions sling to the
colonnades while a sprightly collection of classical figurines
congregate on the rooftop waving and pointing frantically at each
other. A large turbaned turret completes the look.
• Due to immense legal wrangles in the Calcutta High
Court, Claude Martin’s will was not finally proved until
1840. Before that the Constantia building was used as a
guest house for visiting Europeans. Constantia, was
designed and built by Martin himself as his country
residence. This building, constructed in an extraordinary
mixture of styles, is striking and impressive. The site
chosen is a lovely park which may excite the envy of
any educational institution in the world. It stands on an
artificial terrace over-looking what was once a lake;
from the centre of which rises a solid fluted column
with a Moorish cupola ‘the Laat’ approximately 125
feet high. Over the years, the Gomti river has edged
closer, necessitating the building of a river bund
between the front terrace and ‘the Laat’.
There is probably no other building in Lucknow that exerts
such a fascination over the viewer than the Constantia
building which is the central portion of the main building at
the La Martiniere Boys College. Built by the 18th century
French adventurer Claude Martin, it has withstood the
ravages of time and its walls have witnessed death,
destruction, earthquakes, floods, love, hope and tears.
Through its hallowed portals have passed generations of
students and staff who have all contributed to the legend
that is ‘the Martiniere. The rooms in Constantia are
decorated profusely in arabesques, bas reliefs and other
ornamental works in the Italian style, many of them of great
beauty. The external architecture is profusely crowned with
casts of figures after the antique, and some in more modern
fashion. The curved wings were added afterwards in
accordance with Martin’s instructions. The famous 18th
century potter Josiah Wedgewood was responsible for the
plaster of Paris plaques decorating the library and chapel.
The plaques depict classical and mythological subjects.