Prince Charles unveils Tagore bust
09 Jul 2011
A bust of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, poet, writer and philosopher was unveiled by Prince Charles in London's Gordon Square on Thursday.
The bust was sculpted by renowned painter and sculptress Shenda Amery, who had also been commissioned to sculpt the busts of two sitting British prime ministers, Baroness Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major, and to paint the portrait of Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The unveiling of Tagore's bust coincided with the sixth anniversary of the 7 July London bombings, and in a message Prince Charles said, ''The inscriptions on this bust will shine out as a beacon of tolerance, understanding and of unity and diversity.''
The Tagore Centre UK, which holds the only collection of Tagore's work in Europe, had organised a campaign for the installation of his bust in the centre of London to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Tagore's birth centenary.
Tagore, who lived from 1861 to 1941 is arguably perhaps the most prominent figure in the cultural world of the Indian subcontinent and the first Asian to be awarded the Nobel Prize.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 1913 for his collection of poems Gitanjali.
Tagore is the only person to have composed the national anthems of two countries - India and Bangladesh. The Bangldesh national anthem Amar Shonar Bangla (My golden Bengal) was composed by Tagore as a song in 1905, the first 10 lines of which were adopted by Bangladesh in 1972 as its national anthem.
Dr Kalyan Kundu, founder and chairperson of the Tagore Centre UK, said, "Rabindranath Tagore is an icon of Indian culture and it is fitting that on his 150th birth anniversary such a magnificent bust has been installed in the heart of London. By being in London, people from all over the world that pass through this great city can visit the bust."
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