Chennai Valluvarkottam to open to public by mid-January

Valluvarkottam, one of the city’s iconic monuments, will get a new lease of life and be opened to the public by mid-January.

Located in the city’s heart and spread over 5 acres, the edifice dedicated to ancient Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar is getting a complete structural revamp. The Public Works Department (PWD) has accelerated work to renovate the landmark and add facilities to attract visitors.

Nearly 275 laborers are working daily to renovate the monument at the cost of ₹80 crore. After the facelift, it will have an air-conditioned auditorium that can accommodate nearly 1,600 people on the ground floor.

The Kural Manimadam, which has 1,330 verses of the Thirukkural engraved on stones designed to look like pages of a book on the first floor, is also getting spruced up, with windows for better ventilation.