The idea to build a new city in northwestern India, at the foot of the Himalayas, was born back in 1947, when India and Pakistan gained independence, and the former capital of the British province of Punjab, Lahore, ended up abroad - in Pakistan. Therefore, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to establish a new administrative center for the states of Punjab and Haryana. A team led by Le Corbusier was eventually brought in to design the new city. The name "Chandigarh" translates as "the fortress of Chandi" (a harsh goddess who is especially revered here, the hypostasis of Parvati Durga), but since the official moment of its foundation in 1953 it is also called the "Beautiful city", City Beautiful.
Residential and industrial buildings were designed by Pierre Jeanneret, students and followers of Le Corbusier, but the great architect created the main administrative buildings himself. On the territory of Sector 1 there are the buildings of the parliaments of Punjab and Haryana, the secretariat and the supreme court of both states. Between them stretches an area of about 350 meters long. On it, Le Corbusier intended to place a series of symbolic structures on the verge of sculpture and architecture, which would illustrate his architectural and urban planning ideas.
The only such structure, embodied during the life of the architect, in 1965, is the Open Hand: a steel hand that rotates like a weather vane on a concrete pedestal above a recessed open-air meeting room (completed in 1985). This is the official symbol of Chandigarh, which embodies the idea of openness - "the freedom to give and receive." After the death of Le Corbusier, the transparent "Tower of Shadows" was erected, dedicated to the theme of passive cooling and protection of the building from the sun's rays.
Now the city authorities are going to implement the remaining projects there or complete unfinished ones.
A structure will appear next to the Tower of Shadows, displaying the trajectory of the sun across the sky between two solstices. For him, Le Corbusier managed to make only a draft design.
Also on the list is a relief or fresco "Sundial": a hill of geometric shape for them was poured even during the construction of the city. Now, from the side of the square, it should be supplemented by a scheme for changing the ratio of light and shadow during the day, developed by Le Corbusier.
The Martyrs Memorial will also be completed: its platform with a staircase and a relief has already been completed, but from above there are no statues of a lying man, a lion and a snake, as well as an imitation of ruins. The structure reminds of the victims of the unrest that accompanied the division of Punjab between India and Pakistan.
The Modulor monument, a proportional diagram created by Le Corbusier on the basis of a human figure, will also be erected.
The largest of the new structures will be the Knowledge Museum, which will serve as a meeting place for officials.
