Photographs

At the Open Air Theatre, 1962

Institute Events , Visiting VIPs

Seen in the image from the left: Prof. B. Sengupto (Director) and Dr. h. c. Heinrich Luebke (President of the Federal Republic of Germany).

This event marked not only the visit of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, but also the inauguration of the Open Air Theatre (OAT) of IIT Madras. The banner in the background reads "Herzlich Willkommen", which translates to "Warm Welcome". K. M. Kripanarayan writes in the 15 December 1962 edition of Campastimes, in his article titled ‘President Luebke Lays the Foundation Stone of I.I.T. Madras’, “The student gallery was packed to the full in spite of the Davis Cup Match”. Das Bundesarchiv from Germany has documented a video of the President’s visit to India. Titled Der Staatsbesuch in Indien, the technicolour video shows roughly two minutes’ worth of content of President Luebke in Chennai and IIT Madras. It appears that the students were dressed in white for the event.