Fort william

Fort William is a must visit tourist attraction place of Calcutta.
Fort William the most impressive edifice in calcutta of the military power of the British Raj in the East. It still continues to serve as a citadel of the Indian army in Eastern India. There were actually two Fort Williams, the old and the new. The old fort goes back to the early days of the east india company. Sir Charles Eyre started the construction of the southeast bastion and the adjacent walls. His successor John Beard added the northeast bastion around 1701. He began the Factory or the Government House in 1702 in the middle of the fort and on completion in 1706, it was named after King William of England. Situated at the banks of river Hooghly, it was named after King William III of England.
The area that was cleared around the fort became maidan, where several exhibitions and fairs take place. The foundation of the old fort is still intact. Till date, it is a military area and the Arsenal inside it is worth watching, but for that prior permission of the commanding officer is required.
The Structure
The Fort is a brick-and-mortar structure built in the shape of an irregular octagon surrounding 5 square km of which five sides look landward and three on the river, surrounded by a fosse 9 meter deep and 15 meter broad which can be flooded in times of emergency. There are six gates Chowringhee, Plassey Calcutta, Water gate St Georges and Treasury Gate. A telephone office, recreation club, canteen, cinema hall, restaurant, swimming pool and wide moat surround it. For the tourist, there is a museum housing arms and armours, swords, muskets and machine guns. Another section has photographs of the Burma campaign and of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Arsenal inside is worth visiting with a prior permission required from the Commanding Officer.