Though the air is silent but travelling down the lanes of memories, one can still hear the resounding war cries from all directions, the canon balls shelling the walls and the snipers firing with perfect aim at the high flying Union Jack.

The piece-de-resistance this is The Lucknow Residency - ready for the siege.The sun had set for the British Empire, there was an all out siege of the Residency, that continued for nearly five months, taking the life of 2197 defenders including British and Indian. What was left of this majestic building built by Nawab Asif-ud-Daula in the year 1775, were the broken walls with marks of bullets and cannon balls.

The museum at the Residency houses an impressive collection of firearms, lithographs and paintings. One can well spend hours in the complex strolling among the roofless walls and reading the epitaphs on the graves in the cemetery.

La Martiniere College

Standing on the banks of the river Gomti, this magnificent structure was constructed in 1794 by a French soldier - Claude Martin. The architecture of this building is a complete mixture of Indo-European schools. Italian, French, English and Gothic with a touch of Mughlai is how you can best describe this building. It held a place of pride in the heart of Claude Martin because he is said to have constructed it in memory of his love - Constance and named it Constantia. Before dying he expressed his last wish which was that his mortal remains should be laid to rest in the basement of this building. And so his wish was fulfilled.