Take Home some Le Corbusier's Souvenirs

Roaming around in the city, fresh air, magnificent architecture and beautiful places all around make you fall in love with this city and a wish rises to take something back home that can keep the memories of this city beautiful, alive and fresh.

How about a souvenir? Perfect idea! So, the search for an ideal place begins.

Around six decades ago the swiss-french architect of this well-planned city, Le Corbusier used a Sector 19-based office for conceptualization which has now been converted to  'Le Corbusier Centre'. It includes nine rooms with a corridor and a verandah. All the rooms display information and wide collection of documents and photographs. The corridor doubles as a photo gallery. This makes the place appealing and attracts a huge number of visitors.

The main aim of this centre is preservation, interpretation, research and display of the works and legacy of Le Corbusier. This Centre includes a souvenir shop with another two similar shops at the Sukhna Lake and Rock Garden. These shops are set up by STEPS (Society for Tourism and Entertainment Promotions) housing variety of souvenirs-inscribing various city-based heritage buildings and monuments and reproductions of master architect Le Corbusier's drawings, paintings and photographs.

These souvenirs and memorabilia are also in the form of coffee mugs, cushion cover with cushion, table lamp, T-shirts, fridge magnet, colour reproductions of work of art of Le Corbusier with moulded frames, translit, animal handle mug, glass mug, beer mug, piggy bank, cup plate, key chain, plate, coaster PVC, toughen glass plate, round paper weight, open hand (Acrylic), pen stand, frame (Acrylic), man hole (metal), open hand, table clock (metal), puzzle games, mouse pads, children's fancy pencil boxes and other associated school accessories, greeting cards, post cards, batches and crystals.

So, it is a wide range to choose from. With this long list of souvenirs it becomes pretty sure that choosing out of these is an exciting task. It definitely gives a satisfactory experience of shopping.

-Mehak Chauhan

Gantantar Celebration...the Art way!

Kadamb Art in association with Elante Mall, Chandigarh is organising a Workshop and Exhibition of Paintings, Sculptures and
Installations by Fourteen established and student artists on Sunday, 26th January 2014 from 12 Noon till 5 pm in the Elante Mall Courtyard, Industrial Area - I, Chandigarh.

Participating Professional Artists are:
Anita Jasiar, Bibekanand Kapri, Mohinder Tuli, Rozy Varinder Kaur, Gurdeep Dhiman, Jaskanwal Kaur, Sandeep Joshi, Sandeep Kaur
Sikander Singh

Participating Student Artists 
Aeshna Bhatnagar, Abhishek Singh, Jasmin Singh, Mittika Gupta, Udiit Anand

Neenu Vij of Kadamb Art, who has been regularly curating such thematic art events in the city is herself an accomplished artist, and through her organisation Kadamb Art, provides a platform to various amateur and professional artists to showcase their work.

Celebrate 'Gantantar' the art way.

The man who aimed to build a better world...

Pioneer of Modern architecture, Le Corbusier, chosen by award winning architect Sir David Chipperfield for an interview on BBC Radio. 

Le Corbusier aimed to build a better world through radical buildings and the controversial reshaping of whole cities. Find out more and listen...click here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03mfwk1

Exploring Chandigarh...first time!

Finally it is middle of the week and my wish list of places I want to explore in the city is almost ready. The weekend would be exciting, I am sure.  Would you like to know? For the first timer, who has so much read about this Le Corbusier's city, I just can't wait to just hop on to the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus, and savour its beautiful sights. 

Sukhna Lake
A morning walk on the jogging track along this beautiful man-made lake is, according to me the best idea to start the weekend fun. Good for both physical and mental health, I will join the league of all the walkaholic people very soon!

The Rock Garden
Since, I have already read about it and its founder Mr. Nek Chand in school, I am very excited to visit this sculpture garden spread over an area of forty acres. Created entirely using the industrial and domestic waste and thrown-away items, this makes it even more alluring. It R . O . C . K . S .




Asia's biggest Rose Garden
As I inherit the love for nature from my parents, gardens have to be on my list for sure. It is said that Chandigarh experiences changing moods with the varying seasons. In the month of January  it becomes obvious to relish the blooming roses of Asia’s largest rose garden spread over thirty acres.






The Cultural Complex

Chandigarh is the cultural capital of the region. The cultural complex is a portion of sector 10 that includes Tagore Theatre, City Museum, Science Museum, Government Museum and Art Gallery. So, it is definitely on my list.

Chandigarh Botanical Garden and Nature Park
The city is blessed with climate that is suitable to accommodate number of species of flora.  This park stretches over 176 acres of land and includes inumerous flora species of different regions. Flora lovers like me have to add this to the list.






Open Hand Monument
After watching a video featuring Le Corbusier’s philosophy behind the open hand monument it becomes an inevitable site to observe and appreciate.







The Grand Shopping Mall: Sector-17 
Shopping and hanging out with friends is always an eternal part of a girl’s list. Chandigarh’s 17 plaza is known for it’s shopping area that includes almost every brand outlet. So, 17 is the place to visit in the evening and enjoy the  colourful mosaic of neon signs and aesthetically illuminated fountains. And Saturday, I learnt, has musical evening at the plaza that would make the evening most enjoyable.


While the mushrooming crowded shopping malls in the country are new concepts that have appeared in last may be three or four years in a big way, but hats off to the designers and architects of Chandigarh, who created such a beautiful open mall in the heart of the city, which has every thing ... shops, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, library, and what not. You can just indulge yourself for the whole day.

National Gallery of Portraits
For a history buff like me it is the best place to visit and to listen to the voices of some of the greatest leaders of India’s independence struggle. This place is open all days of the week except Monday so weekend is the best time to experience the fire and revolutionary spirit come alive within you.

I am sure many of the Chandigarhians have not visited these places yet.  There is no better way to spend your weekend with your family, and especially, introduce your children to these wonders.

- Mehak Chauhan