Reconstructing Colonial Spectacles: Towards a Digital Reimagining of the 1911 Delhi Durbar

This study explores how digital reconstruction can be mobilized as an anti-colonial tool to reinterpret colonial spectacles that once visualized empire and domination. The focus of this reconstruction will be on the Delhi Durbar of 1911, which was the grand imperial coronation ceremony of the British monarch conducted in colonial India by the British Empire. As colonial ephemeral spectacles that staged imperial power through temporary architecture (dismantled immediately after the event), the Delhi Durbars combined South Asian durbar ritual, British coronation theatre, and world-fair display logics, offering a uniquely revealing lens into how imperial authority was theatrically staged and negotiated while it attempted innovative methods to simultaneously include the colonised under empire. Using surviving architectural drawings, cartographic plans, and archival photographs, this study digitally reconstructs the 1911 Delhi Durbar as a navigable 3D model. This 3D reconstruction functions as both a research method and a decolonial intervention: providing a deeper understanding on how architecture, visibility, and hierarchy was engineered into imperial performance. By recreating an ephemeral colonial spectacle, the project exposes how imperial narratives were spatially encoded and invites new, decolonial readings of the colonial archive. Furthermore, by linking 3D digital modelling with postcolonial analysis, this study contributes to the ongoing conversations about digital cultural heritage, anti-colonial DH, and sustainable digital practice. It demonstrates how digital tools can bridge public and academic history by transforming static colonial records into interactive, accessible spaces of inquiry. Ultimately, the project advocates for digital humanities as a means of critically reimagining ephemeral architecture, particularly in the colonial context.