[4] Curzon said on 26 February 1901 in his address to the Asiatic Society, "Let us, therefore, have a building, stately, spacious, monumental and grand, to which every newcomer in Calcutta will turn, to which all the resident population, European and Native, will flock, where all classes will learn the lessons of history and see revived before their eyes the marvels of the past; and where father shall say to son and mother and daughter — ‘This Statue and this great Hall were erected in memory of the greatest and best Sovereign whom India has ever known.

This is her monument.’[5]The government officials, princes, politicians, and people of India responded generously to Lord Curzon's appeal for funds, and the total cost of construction of the monument, amounting to one crore, five lakhs of Rupees, was entirely derived from their voluntary subscriptions.

The construction of the Victoria Memorial was delayed by Curzon's departure from India in 1905, with a subsequent loss of local enthusiasm for the project.

The Victoria Memorial was completed and formally opened to the public in December 1921 by the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII.

A smaller Victoria memorial was also constructed in the Hardoi district in North-Western Provinces (in modern Uttar Pradesh), which has since been converted into a city club for recreation.

[11][12] The design is in the Indo-Saracenic style, mixing British and Mughal elements with Venetian, Egyptian, and Deccani architectural influences.

[14] Curzon deliberately intended the central chamber to be sixty-four feet in diameter in order to be slightly larger than the Taj Mahal.

Emerson's assistant, Vincent Jerome Esch, designed the bridge of the north aspect and the garden gates.

[15] Surrounding the dome are allegorical sculptures including Art, Architecture, Justice, and Charity and above the North Porch are Motherhood, Prudence and Learning.

"Cast in bronze and depicts an enthroned and aged Victoria, looking down on her world while wearing the robes of the Star of India and holding the orb and sceptre."

They include Victoria receiving the sacrament at her coronation in Westminster Abbey in June 1838; Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace in 1840; the christening of the Prince of Wales in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, 1842; the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Alexandra of Denmark in 1863; and paintings of Victoria at the service for her Golden Jubilee at Westminster Abbey in 1887 and her Diamond Jubilee service at St Paul's Cathedral in June 1897.

On the south wall hangs the oil painting by Vasily Vereshchagin of the state entry of the Prince of Wales into Jaipur in 1876.

[20][21][22] In the mid-1970s, the matter of a new gallery devoted to the visual history of Kolkata was promoted by Saiyid Nurul Hasan, the minister for education.

On Esch's bridge, between narrative panels by Goscombe John, there is a bronze statue of Victoria, by George Frampton.

[5] Following an order of the West Bengal High Court in 2004, an entry fee was imposed for the gardens, a decision welcomed by the general public except for few voices of dissent.