Dignitaries seated for the stone laying ceremony at the Open Air Theatre

< Back

Administrators , Faculty , Institute Events

Seated from left: Mr. Hans Heinrich von Herwarth, State Secretary, Mrs. Wilhelmine Luebke, Chairman Dr. A. L. Mudaliar, Dr. h. c. Heinrich Luebke, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Union Minister Humayun Kabir, Chief Minister of Madras State K. Kamaraj, Director Prof. B. Sengupto and Mrs. Brigitte Schroeder. In the Fourth Annual Number, Prof. R. Krishnamurthi’s article ‘3rd December 1962 – A Red-Letter Day’ talks about the proceedings of the event: “At exactly 4:30 p.m., the West German President and Mrs. Luebke entered the dais. With a pleasant smile, Dr. Luebke got on the platform followed by Mrs. Luebke, Dr. A. L. Mudaliar, Professor Humayun Kabir, Chief Minister Kamaraj, Sri. R. Venkataraman (Minister in-charge of Industries and Technical Education with the Government of Madras), Professor Sengupto, Mr. R. Natarajan, the Registrar and the Superintending Engineer, Mr. Y. S. Ramaswamy.” He goes on to write about the stone laying ceremony. The function began with prayers, a speech by Dr. A. L. Mudaliar, a speech by Mr. R. Natarajan, an address by Prof. Humayun Kabir and finally the President Dr. Luebke laid the foundation stone, following which he gave a speech. The shadow of the photographer is seen on the floor of the stage. Since the photograph was taken by C. Gourishankar, it is likely that it is his shadow.

Collection:

Gourishankar Collection

Album Name:

Visit of the German President in 1962, Photographs of Buildings

Photograph ID:

001/0259/IMG_0347

Album ID:

0259

Date:

1962-12-02, 1962-12-03

Place:

Open Air Theatre (OAT)

Photographer:

C. Gourishankar (1936-2002). A geologist by qualification, Gourishankar started his career as a photographer after working for many years with the Geological Survey of India. In everything that he did, Gourishankar strove to achieve flawlessness and impeccable quality. Thus his photography too was characterised by this drive for perfection. Every photograph that Gourishankar took was meticulously planned and shot and printed with diligence and patience. Gourishankar carried out most of the official photography at IIT Madras in the 1960s.

Event:

Visit of Dr. h. c. Heinrich Luebke, President of the Federal Republic of Germany