Will try our best to save 19th-century prism lights

The current state of the lights. File pic

About two weeks after mid-day highlighted the poor state of the 19th-century semi-prism lights at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site of Mumbai CSMT, Central Railway CR on Friday said they are trying their best to save and conserve the relics.

On February 17, mid-day had reported that the semi-prism lights, once carefully curated by the legendary architect Frederick William Stevens into the original designs of Victoria Terminus, as it was known then, lay at one corner of the station now. Central Railway will carefully transport the Hayward Brothers- patent semi-prism lights, made in 1878, to the ground floor of the heritage gallery museum.

"We will make all efforts to save them and restore them. We will soon make arrangements to transport it to the heritage gallery museum," CR Chief Public Relations Officer Shivaji Sutar told mid-day.

The light frames, which have close to 44 prisms and once illuminated the station, are still intact, except for a few minor damages. mid-day had last week found three of these frames abandoned on the west side of the Grade 1 heritage building.

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