Chandigarh is the only Indian city to have been designed and planned by a single architect – Le Corbusier. Infact, this was to be the first planned city of India. It was built in 1953. It is administered by the Central Government and is hence classified as an Union Territory. he name of the city is derived from Goodess of power known as Shri Chandika whose temple is on Chandigarh- Kalka Road. The temple is known by the name of Chandi Mandir.
After the Partition of India in 1947, the former British province of Punjab was also split between east Punjab in India and west Punjab in Pakistan. The Indian Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition. The name Chandigarh translates as “The Fort of Chandi”. The name is derived from an ancient temple called Chandi Mandir, devoted to the Hindu goddess Chandi, near the city.
Chandigarh hosts the largest of Le Corbusier’s many Open Hand sculptures, standing 26 metres high. The Open Hand (La Main Ouverte) is a recurring motif in Le Corbusier’s architecture, a sign for him of “peace and reconciliation. It is open to give and open to receive.” It represents the give and take of ideas. However, two of the six monuments planned in the Capitol Complex which has the High Court, the Assembly and the Secretariat, remain incomplete. These include Geometric Hill and Martyrs Memorial, drawings were made, their execution however was never fully accomplished after starting out in 1956.
On 1 November 1966, the newly formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of the eastern portion of Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi-speaking people, while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi language-speaking majority and remained as the current federated state of Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states.
Leave a Reply