Portal:Bangalore/Selected article/3
The Vidhana Soudha, located in Bangalore (Bengaluru), is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka. It is an imposing building, constructed in a style sometimes described as 'Neo-Dravidian', and incorporates elements of Indo-Saracenic, Rajasthani Jharokha and Dravidian styles.
It was built in the 1950s. Shri Kengal Hanumanthaiah, Chief Minister of Mysore from 1951 to 1956, is credited with the conception of the Vidhana Soudha. He visited Europe, Russia, United States and other places and got the idea of building Vidhana Soudha by incorporating various designs from the buildings he had seen. The foundation was laid by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, on July 13, 1951. It was completed in 1956. Kengal Hanumanthaiah took a lot of interest and effort in building this marvelous granite building. It is also called as Taj Mahal of south India. Thousands of prisoners were used to build this building because of shortage of laborers. Kengal Hanumanthaiah had to face lot of criticism as the cost of building increased during the construction.