The exhibition brings together a collection of rare and vintage photographs that show the city in its nascent stages of formation. As part of the ongoing ‘Iconic Week Celebrations’ under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign, the department of cultural affairs in Chandigarh and the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi are jointly organising a photography exhibition ‘Chandigarh – Down the Memory Lane’ that celebrates the making of India’s first modern city.
Chandigarh was declared a Union territory on November 1, 1966 when Punjab was reorganised along linguistic lines into two new states – predominantly Hindi-speaking Haryana and Punjabi-speaking Punjab. Further, Chandigarh was made the shared capital of the two states and the Union territory. The day is commemorated as the city’s Foundation Day.
The legislative assembly under construction. The exhibition brings together a collection of rare and vintage photographs that show the city in its nascent stages of formation. Each frame reveals how, over the decades, the city has evolved and developed from the plain, barren landscape in which it was planted.
As immigrants flocked the city in search of new moorings after being displaced by the traumatic Partition, the institutional, cultural and residential buildings helped them to step out of the village life into a new, modern way of living. These curated images capture the almost barren city before it started teeming with people and greenery. The exhibition also acknowledges the contribution of the many unknown photographers who have clicked rare glimpses of the city as it came up, each photograph capturing the many elements, ideas, inspirations, thoughts and visions that have created this city.
The exhibition depicts how brick became the muse of architects for its cheap availability and ease of use. On display are more than 50 photographs depicting the iconic buildings of Chandigarh when these were being built, like the construction of the Assembly building, especially the hall and massive porch, which was a technical feat considering the limited resources available. The KC Theatre in Sector 17, with its unique dome shape in concrete, was a landmark and saw long queues, especially on Fridays. The Neelam and Jagat Cinema in Sector 17 broke the monotony of the showrooms and exhibited the spirit of experimentation in concrete forms, while Panjab University with landmark buildings like the Gandhi Bhawan and Fine Arts Museum gave a much-needed intellectual boost to the nascent city.
Here, you will have a chance to view the old architects’ office (now Le Corbusier Centre), the fountainhead of the city where the planning and detailing of Chandigarh was done by a dedicated team of architects, and also the Secretariat in Capitol Complex, the tallest building in Chandigarh with its ingenious façade.
The exhibition depicts how brick became the muse of architects for its cheap availability and ease of use, while a rare aerial view shows the MLA hostels with the Jan Marg on the right leading straight to the Capitol Complex against the backdrop of the Shivaliks. It highlights how the construction of iconic buildings like the Secretariat using untrained labour and animals became an inspiration to many developing countries.
Along with the city, the exhibition pays a tribute to the architects of Chandigarh, be it Jeanneret’s quest for finding aesthetics in the most humble building materials as reflected in the MLA housing in Sectors 3 and 4, Maxwell Fry experimenting with precast panels to create jaalis for ventilation while ensuring the privacy of interior areas, the Sukhna Lake born out of the practical vision of the city’s first chief engineer P L Varma, and Corbusier’s sensitivity to its location, sports facilities like cricket and football fields incorporated early in the sector layout under Corbusier’s mandate of, ‘Care of Body and Spirit’. Here, you will also get a glimpse of the Indian team that made Chandigarh – R R Handa, H S Chopra, Jeet Malhotra, Aditya Prakash, B P Mathur, M N Sharma, M S Randhawa, U E Chowdhury and AR Prabhawalkar.
The exhibition is a celebration of the foundation of a city that embodied the dreams and aspirations of thousands of Indians seeking an identity after Independence.
‘Chandigarh – Down the Memory Lane’, is open from Friday, March 11, at Leisure Valley, opposite Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, Chandigarh. The exhibition will be on till March 13, from 11 am to 6.30 pm.
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