George Town
Dense old merchant quarter of temples, bazaars and lanes that grew up beside the colonial fort.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to George Town in Chennai goes back to January nineteen oh six, when the Prince of Wales came to Madras and the oldest civilian quarter of the city was still called Black Town. It follows the township that grew up beside Fort St. George, the war with the French that tore half of it down, and a debate over what the place should be renamed. Stand near Parry's Corner, by Dare House, to hear it.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Fort Saint George
Seventeenth-century English fortress where Madras began, now seat of the state legislature.
Fort St. George Museum
Colonial-era exchange hall turned museum of arms, portraits and India's surviving 1947 silk flag.
Sowcarpet
Old moneylenders' bazaar of tight lanes, wholesale shops and white marble Jain temples.
CSI St. Mary's Church
Fortress-like seventeenth-century Anglican church with bomb-proof vaulted roof and four-foot walls.
Mylapore
Historic temple quarter of narrow lanes, old messes and a nameless snack window facing a great gopuram.
Ripon Building
Gleaming white civic hall with a chiming central clock tower, seat of the city corporation since 1913.