Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex: Visiting Le Corbusier’s Monument in India

Chandigarh is the one city that Le Corbusier was able to plan, and the Capitol Complex is the group of buildings in which he had the freest hand. It stands at the northern end of the city’s grid, against the line of the Shivalik hills, and houses the legislature, the administration and the high court of two Indian states. In July 2016 it was inscribed on the World Heritage List as part of The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, a group of 17 sites in seven countries.

Why Chandigarh was built

When British India was partitioned in 1947, Lahore, the historic capital of Punjab, fell on the Pakistani side of the border. The Indian part of the province needed a new capital. Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister, wanted more than an administrative town. He spoke of a new city, a symbol of India’s freedom.

Le Corbusier accepted the commission in 1951. He worked with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and with the English architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, who designed much of the housing, and with a team of young Indian architects. He kept the master plan and the Capitol for himself. The city was laid out in numbered sectors, with the Capitol at its head in Sector 1. Since 1966 Chandigarh has been the shared capital of Punjab and Haryana, and the buildings serve both.

The three buildings

The complex covers about 66 hectares. It consists of three large buildings in exposed concrete, four monuments and a wide paved plaza. The buildings stand far apart, so that each is seen against the sky and the hills.

The High Court. The first to be finished. A great concrete roof like a parasol shades the courtrooms beneath it. The entrance is a tall portico with three massive piers, painted in strong primary colours.

The Palace of Assembly. The legislature, and the most sculptural of the three. A deep portico with an upturned roof faces the plaza. Behind it, the circular chamber rises through the roof under a tall conical tower. The building stands on pilotis, the columns that were one of Le Corbusier’s principles, and is shaded by concrete sun-breakers. Its ceremonial door is an enamelled panel painted by the architect.

The Secretariat. A slab about 254 metres long and 42 metres high, holding the ministries. Its long facade is broken by the sun-breakers and by a projecting ramp tower.

The monuments

The Open Hand. A metal sculpture 26 metres high that turns in the wind above a sunken court. Le Corbusier meant it as a sign of peace and reconciliation, a hand “open to give and open to receive”. It has become the emblem of the city.

The Tower of Shadows. An open concrete pavilion that demonstrates how the sun-breakers work at different hours and seasons.

The Geometric Hill and the Martyrs’ Memorial complete the group. A fourth building planned for the plaza, a governor’s palace, was never built.

Beyond the Capitol

The city itself is the larger monument. Its sectors, each planned as a neighbourhood with its own shops and green space, its long avenues of trees, and Sukhna Lake, an artificial lake at the foot of the hills, are all part of the plan. Sector 17 is the commercial centre. The Government Museum and Art Gallery in Sector 10 is by Le Corbusier, and a small museum in the city occupies a house associated with Pierre Jeanneret, who stayed on for years as the city’s chief architect and designed the teak and cane furniture now sought by collectors.

For travellers

Because the Capitol is a working seat of government with tight security, access is controlled and has varied over the years. Visits have generally been arranged through the city’s tourism department, and the interiors of the Assembly and the High Court are open only when access is permitted. Check the current arrangements, opening days and identification requirements with Chandigarh Tourism before travelling, and allow time for security checks.

Chandigarh has its own airport and is connected to Delhi by rail and road. The cooler months, roughly October to March, are the more comfortable time to visit. The city is a convenient stop on the way to the Himalayan foothills or to the Golden Temple at Amritsar.