Kolkata New Market

Opened in 1874 as the Sir Stuart Hogg Market, this red-brick Gothic-style hall in central Kolkata was built to serve the colonial city's European residents. A landmark clock tower rises above a labyrinth of some two thousand stalls selling clothing, leather goods, jewellery, flowers and imported delicacies. Successive fires and additions have expanded the warren, yet the original arcaded structure endures as a symbol of the city's mercantile past. Shoppers weave the narrow aisles guided by porters.