Prayagraj's British-era Mayo Hall Sports Complex gets facade glow-up
The historical building from the British rule era, Mayo Hall Sports Complex, has joined the list of monuments and buildings that have been decorated with facade lighting—an effort to boost the tourism potential of the city—after Prayagraj witnessed an unprecedented 66 crore visitor footfall from across the world during the recently concluded Mahakumbh 2025.
According to regional tourism officer Aparajita Singh, the façade lighting for the sports complex—one of the oldest in the country built by the British—was planned for the financial year 2024–25. However, owing to excessive work and crowd pressure during Mahakumbh 2025, the same could not be completed in the last financial year, she added.
As per Singh, the tourism department had got facade lights installed at the giant structure under the Mahakumbh scheme last month, after which its maintenance was handed over to the UP Project Corporation. The bill for the power consumed by it would be paid by the Sports Complex authorities.
According to project manager, UP Project Corporation, Prayagraj region, Rajesh Sharma, the tourism department handed over the maintenance of the facade lights installed on Mayo Hall Sports Complex to the Project Corporation this month.
As per Sharma, several other sites in Prayagraj are also on the list to be illuminated with façade lights before the 2031 Kumbh Mela, some of which include Victoria Memorial, Allahabad Museum, Minto Park, Chowk Clock Tower, etc.
The facade lighting on Mayo Hall Sports Complex was carried out with a budget of ₹1.95 crore.
It may be mentioned that before Mahakumbh 2025—organised between January 13 and February 26, 2025—several ancient temples and buildings, besides the New Yamuna Bridge, were decorated with façade lighting. These include Nagvasuki Temple, Shankar Viman Mandapam, Maa Alopshankari Temple, Akbar's Fort, New Yamuna Bridge, Shastri Bridge, etc.
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