The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) conferring the world heritage status on Le Corbusier designed Capitol Complex in Chandigarh on Sunday comes as major boost towards preserving Corbusier’s prime architectural designs.
Capital city Chandigarh also stands to gain from an increased number of tourist footfalls now that the attraction comes with a world heritage status. Sunday's announcement at the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO at Istanbul however will not attract any funds from the agency. But, the vital part of preservation of the monumental structures will now be under expert guidance of the UNESCO.
Officials of the Union Territory of Chandigarh are meeting shortly to decide upon the ways and means to make best of the priced announcement. The Capitol complex is spread over 100 acres and essentially comprises of the Open Hand monument, Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Punjab and Haryana legislative assembly and the secretariat. Until last year, the open hand in the Capitol Complex had been essentially out of bound for visitors owing to security concerns. Corbusier began work on the Capitol Complex in 1952 and all the structures were completed by 1962.
The Chandigarh administration has been vying for the UNESCO heritage status since the last 9-years since 2007. It then succeeded in getting the name of the city included in the tentative list. Twin attempts were made in 2009 and 2011 to get the heritage status, but in vain. Nominations from seven countries, including France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Argentina, Japan and India, were included in the list works of French designer Le Corbusier on Sunday. The UNESCO will assist in providing technical expertise to the monumental architecture designs in the Capitol Complex for preservation of the structures.
The Capitol complex was in news when French President Francois Hollande visited the venue. This place was also the central venue for the second international Yoga Day in June this year which saw Prime Minister Modi performing yoga asanas along with thousands of volunteers and trainers.