Old Parliament was once an administrative building, Queen Victoria's son had laid the foundation stone, which will become history.

The special session of Parliament will run in the new building from September 19. The new Parliament building was inaugurated by PM Modi on 28 May. When was the old building constructed and who inaugurated it? Let us know.

The five-day special session of Parliament will begin today, September 18. The proceedings of the five-day special session of Parliament will be held in the new Parliament House on Tuesday. Probably, now all the sessions of Parliament will be held in the new building only. The first Lok Sabha session was held in the old Parliament House in May 1952. Since then, every proceeding of the Parliament has been taking place from this building. After the proceedings begin from the new building, the old Parliament building will be remembered as history.

Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated the new Parliament building on 28 May. The Old Parliament House was constructed during the British rule in India. The old Parliament House is also a witness to many historical decisions. Let us know when the old Parliament House was built.

When was the old Parliament building built?

The foundation stone of the Old Parliament House was laid by Prince Arthur in 1921 and it was inaugurated six years later in 1927. Prince Arthur was the third son of Queen Victoria of the UK. During his graduation, he became a lieutenant in the British Army. He was given the title of Duke, which was used for British rulers at that time.

It was constructed as an administrative building

The Old Parliament House was built as an administrative building during the British rule. The foundation stone of its construction was laid when the British government made Delhi its capital. Before this, Kolkata used to be the capital of the British rule. The British government had planned to control the entire country through this administrative building and hence this building was constructed.

What is Lutyens Zone?

The responsibility of administrative construction was given to architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker. This also included the construction of North and South Block. Therefore, the Parliament House and its surrounding area were also known as Lutyens Zone. It took 6 years to construct it and it was inaugurated by the then Viceroy Lord Irwin. At that time the total cost of construction was Rs 83 lakh.

What about the old building?

The old Parliament building can be used for organizing parliamentary programs. The foundation stone of the new Parliament building was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 December 2020 and the inauguration was done on 28 May 2023. In the new Parliament building, seating arrangements have been made for 888 members of the Lok Sabha and 384 members of the Rajya Sabha. A total of 1272 members can sit together during the joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The construction of the new building has cost about Rs 861 crore.