Mumbai, the financial capital of India has been connecting with its past and last year the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation restored the 157-year-old Fitzgerald Fountain at the Metro Cinema Junction located in the south of the city. During the restoration project it was realised that this structure had a twin in the United Kingdom.

In 1867, to mark Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey-Fitzgerald arrival as the Governor of Bombay, this Fountain was erected at the Metro Junction in Dhobi Talao. Later it was removed and kept on the lawns located behind the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum.

When the BMC decided to restore Mumbai’s heritage structures, they found this neglected fountain. The team dedicated to restoration realised they faced an uphill task, since more than 500 of its parts were missing, including the lamp at the top. They had no clue or information about the original design and their search led them to the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum and through them they connected with Peter Perkins, an industrial archaeologist in the UK.

Communicating with Perkins, the officials of the BMC’s Heritage Cell realised that the Fitzgerald Fountain in India and the Market Square Fountain at Northamptonshire, in the UK were identical. The latter was erected in 1863 to commemorate the marriage of Prince Albert to Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Finally, the BMC team was able to find the missing pieces, including the lamp, of the Fitzgerald Fountain and its 150 members finished the restoration work of the 44 feet by 13 feet structure.

Perkins had made enquiries in the past while writing a book as he had found uncanny likeness between the two structures.

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