Rock Garden | |
---|---|
Type | Urban park |
Location | Chandigarh, India |
Coordinates | 30°45′07″N76°48′25″E / 30.752°N 76.807°E |
Area | 160,000 sq.m. |
Created | 1957-1976 |
Visitors | 1.5 million |
The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India. It is also known as Nek Chand Saini's Rock Garden of Nathupur after its founder Nek Chand Saini, a government official who started building the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. It has spread over an area of 40 acres (16 ha), and is completely built from industrial, home waste, and discarded items. [1] [2]
The Rock Garden sits near Sukhna Lake. [3] It consists of man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap and other kinds of waste (bottles, glasses, bangles, tiles, ceramic pots, sinks, electrical waste, broken pipes, etc.) which are placed in walled paths.[ citation needed ] [4]
In his spare time, Nek Chand started collecting materials from demolition sites around the city. He recycled these materials into his own vision of the divine kingdom of Sukrani, choosing a gorge in a forest near Sukhna Lake for his work. The gorge had been designated as a land conservancy, a forest buffer established in 1902 that nothing could be built on. Chand's work was illegal, but he was able to hide it for 18 years before it was discovered by the authorities in 1976. By this time, it had grown into a 12-acre (4.9 ha) complex of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete sculptures of dancers, musicians, and animals. [5]
When Chand left the country on a lecture tour in 1990, the city withdrew its funding, and vandals attacked the park. The Rock Garden Society took over the administration and upkeep of this unique visionary environment. [6] [7]
The garden is visited by 3,000-4,000 people daily. [8]
The Rock Garden of Chandigarh, created by Nek Chand Saini, is a remarkable showcase of individual creativity and resourcefulness. Saini, a public works inspector, began this project clandestinely in 1957. During a period of rapid modernization in post-independence India, he collected discarded materials from demolition sites, turning waste into art. The garden initially started in a 5-acre forested area and was later expanded.
Construction of the Rock Garden commenced in 1957 and continued secretly for nearly two decades before being discovered by authorities in 1975. At the time of its discovery, the garden had expanded to 12 acres. Recognizing its cultural and artistic value, local authorities decided to support and fund its continuation. Although exact details of the initial costs and labor are sparse, it is known that Saini worked almost alone in the beginning. Today, the Rock Garden spans 40 acres and features over 2,000 sculptures crafted from recycled materials like broken ceramics, glass bangles, neon tubes, and industrial debris.
Since its official recognition, the Rock Garden has undergone significant transformations. It was opened to the public and expanded with new sections, including open-air theaters, pavilions, and artificial waterfalls. These additions have enriched the visitor experience and established the garden as a major cultural and tourist landmark.
The Rock Garden is acclaimed for its pioneering role in the environmental art and recycling movement. It demonstrates how art can transform urban spaces and engage communities. Saini's vision and creativity have created a space that not only offers aesthetic pleasure but also promotes sustainability and resource reuse.
Maintained by the Nek Chand Foundation and local authorities, the Rock Garden faces challenges such as natural wear and tear of the recycled materials and the harsh climate of Chandigarh, which accelerates the deterioration of the artworks. The large number of visitors also necessitates protective measures to prevent damage.
There is also a Dolls Museum inside Rock Garden. It was inaugurated by UT Administrator V.P. Singh Badnore to mark the second death anniversary of its founder Nek Chand. The museum comprises 200 rag dolls made from waste cloth. The dolls were made by Nek Chand in the 1970s. [11]
Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Sivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the remaining directions. Chandigarh constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which also includes the adjacent satellite cities of Panchkula in Haryana and Mohali in Punjab. It is located 260 km northwest of New Delhi and 229 km southeast of Amritsar and 104 km southwest of Shimla.
A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small Alpine plants that need relatively little soil or water. Western rock gardens are often divided into alpine gardens, scree gardens on looser, smaller stones, and other rock gardens.
Triloki Nath Chaturvedi spent almost 70 years of his life in the administrative and political system of independent India. He was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), held the constitutional position of Comptroller & Auditor General of India, was an elected member of the Indian Parliament, and was appointed by the President of India to the constitutional office of Governor of Karnataka and Kerala. He was honored with the Padma Vibushan for public service in 1991. He was associated with numerous academic, research, literary and philanthropic institutions as a member and in various leadership capacities.
Nek Chand Saini was a self-taught Indian artist, known for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh.
Dr. Evermor's Forevertron is the 2nd largest scrap metal sculpture in the world, standing 50 ft. high and 120 ft. wide, and weighing 300 tons. Built in the 1980s, it is housed in Dr. Evermor's Art Park on Highway 12, in the town of Sumpter, in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States.
Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, also known as Bottle Village, is an art environment, located in Simi Valley, California. It was created by Tressa "Grandma" Prisbrey (1896–1988) from the 1950s to the 1970s. Prisbey built a "village" of shrines, walkways, sculptures, and buildings from recycled items and discards from the local landfill.
Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh, India, is a reservoir at the foothills of the Himalayas. This 3 km2 rain fed lake was created in 1958 by damming the Sukhna Choe, a seasonal stream coming down from the Shivalik Hills. Originally, the seasonal flow entered the lake directly, causing heavy siltation. To check the inflow of silt, 25.42 km2 of land was acquired in the catchment area and put under vegetation. In 1974, the Choe was diverted and made to bypass the lake completely, the lake being fed by three siltation pots, minimizing the silt into the lake itself.
Panchkula is a city and district headquarter in the Panchkula district in Haryana, India. It is a satellite town of the state capital Chandigarh. Panchkula is a border city with Punjab, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. The origin of the name Panchkula came from "the place where five irrigation canals meet". It is approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) southeast of Chandigarh, 105 km (65 mi) southwest of Shimla, 44 km (27 mi) from Ambala and 259 km (161 mi) northeast of New Delhi, the national capital. It is a part of the Chandigarh capital region or Greater Chandigarh. The Chandigarh-Mohali-Panchkula metropolitan region collectively forms a Chandigarh Tricity, with a combined population of over two million.
Dera Bassi is a satellite city of Chandigarh and a municipal council in Mohali district in the state of Punjab, India. Dera Bassi is located on the Chandigarh – Delhi National Highway, 8 km from Chandigarh. It is located within 20 km from Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. It is strategically located near the boundary of Haryana, Punjab and Union territory of Chandigarh. Derabassi is most famous for its industrial belt, situated for the most part on Ramgarh and Barwala Road. The nearby sub town of Lalru was once a famous market for red chilli powder. The city and the nearby area host eight Engineering, B.Ed., Paramedical and Management institutes.
Pinjore is a town in Panchkula district in the Indian state of Haryana. This residential 'township', located close to Panchkula, Chandigarh, is set over 1,800 feet above the sea level in a valley, overlooking the Sivalik Hills. Pinjore is known for Pinjore Gardens, Asia's best 17th Century Mughal garden, and the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) factory.
A visionary environment or fantasy world is a large artistic installation, often on the scale of a building or sculpture parks, intended to express a vision of its creator. The subjective and personal nature of these projects often implies a marginal status for the artists involved, and there is a strong association between visionary environments and outsider art.
Mata Mansa Devi is a Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Mansa Devi, a form of Shakti, in the Panchkula district of the Indian state of Haryana. The temple complex is spread of 100 acres (0.40 km2) of the Shivalik foothills in the village of Bilaspur, near Sector 13 of Chandigarh, and Panchkula, 10 km from Chandi Mandir, another noted Devi shrine in the region, both just outside Chandigarh.
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The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art is a nonfiction childrens’ picture book by American author Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Claire A. Nivola. It was published on February 13, 2018 by Candlewick Press. The book tells the story of Nek Chand, an artist who preserved his culture by creating the Chandigarh Rock Garden after fleeing violence following the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Chand recreated his village with the ruins of the villages he found beneath the modern city, which became a cultural haven to residents and visitors alike.