Osmania University: Epic in Granite

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Being one of the earliest centres of learning in the South is not the sole distinction of Osmania University. Its eminence is unparalleled in educational architecture in the country and that attracts as many tourists as its academic facilities attract students. Five kilometres of drive from the centre of Hyderabad City brings you through a tree-flanked avenue to a vast pastoral plaza paying tribute to the 2.5 lakh square foot imposing Arts College building, nucleus of Osmania University's 1,500-acre campus, housing a cluster of equally beautiful and impressive buildings of other faculties.

The Arts College edifice is a synonym for architectural uniqueness unspoilt by the arrival of new fangled architectonics. Overlooking the landscape gardens is this majestic structure reached by two flights of wide granite stairs converging and stopping before its awe-inspiring portal that at once is a more eloquent statement on secularism than any other political manifesto. This stately granite giant, an articulate specimen of later Osman Shahi architecture, combines the archetypal characteristics of the Hindu temple styles with those of the Saracenic. Inlaid into this unique form are motifs of medieval Moslem, Arabic, Moorish and even Gothic schools of architecture.

The Arts College was originally Osmania University itself and from here starts a bio-spiritual journey into the world of art and aesthetics revealing itself in sculptured granite. The visitor is mesmerised by the innards of the great welcome arch built in dressed granite, seemingly supported by two soaring, round and polished granite columns. This vertical oblong stands out from the facade and rises higher than the sidewalls and wings of the structure. It is crowned by a trefoil arch, which peaks higher than the walls of the edifice to either side of the portal. The arch houses a semicircular vault with stalactites, resulting in a synthesis of several major architectural themes of iwan, arch and monumental portal.

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