The beautiful city of Chandigarh, renowned for its modern architecture, has been put on the tentative list of UNESCO’s world heritage sites, setting it on the way to become the country’s first heritage city.
Designed by renowned French architect, Le Corbusier, the city’s nomination for the coveted heritage status has become transnational with France leading the way in officially backing its entry supported by Germany, Argentina and Switzerland.
“It is a unique case where Le Corbusier’s works in many countries are vying to be on world heritage list, but the case of Chandigarh is being supported by six countries including India,” said Francesco Bandarin, director of the World Heritage Centre of the UNESCO who was heading an 18-member UNESCO team to the city recently.
The City’s unique layout and novel design of its major public buildings contained in the capitol complex housing the secretariat, the High Court and the assembly buildings, was an important landmark in the history of town planning and one of the chef-de-ouvres of the famed architect, Le Corbusier.
The city continues to be an object of interest for architects, planners, historians and social scientists.
Bandarin did not see “any problems” in the city getting the nod for the heritage status after the Chandigarh administration submits a dossier by February 1 next.
The City was commissioned by the country’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru to reflect the new nation’s modern, progressive outlook. Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be “unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation’s faith in the future.”
It was conceived to be the capital of Punjab after the Partition which had weaned away the city of Lahore to Pakistan and the Indian Punjab was left without a capital. Now, the city is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.
Conceived on the principles of sun, space and verdure, the City while boasting of modern architecture designed in grid style “sectors” boasts of green belts and one of the largest man-made lakes in the country, the Sukhna lake.
