mumbai the state tourism directorate has thrown open a heritage walk of the bombay high court building to tourists especially those interested in heritage architecture and the rich tradition of the indian judiciary the high court and the tourists guide association have jointly taken this initiative one of the oldest courts in the country the bombay high court was built over a period of seven years in gothic revival in the early english style architecture and was commissioned in services in 1878 it has been declared as a world heritage by unesco the walkthrough of the site is available only on saturdays and sundays at rs 100 for domestic tourists and rs 200 for international tourists the visit can be booked on bookmyshowcom according to tourism officials a similar walk will be arranged for the adjacent mumbai university campus very soonthe court was founded on august 14 1862 the construction of the building was started in 1871 and belongs to victorian and art deco structures in 2018 unesco included it in its list of heritagesthe structure of the building has been designed akin to a courtroom of a judge the bombay high court was one of the three high courts in india established at the presidency towns by letters patent granted by queen victoria the structure was designed by british engineer col james a fuller and the first sitting in this building was on january 10 1879 justice m c chagla was the first indian permanent chief justice of bombay high court after independence to the west of the central tower are two octagonal towers the statues of justice and mercy are atop this buildingthe application made by mahatma gandhi in 1890 to study law and a certificate along with degree in law awarded to sardar vallabhbhai patel in 1891 has been put on display dhananjay sawalkar joint director at directorate of tourism said each heritage walk will be of one hour and has been scheduled between 10am and 2pm on saturdays and sundays these walks will be available in marathi english and hindi languages to showcase rich heritage and culture besides architecture is the motto behind the initiative he added according to tourists great indian leaders like tilak dr ambedkar gandhi and sardar patel were associated with this court and to visit it will be an honour