Until some of its junk furniture reached the Christie’s auction house, Chandigarh didn’t realise how rich was the heritage it sat on.
The story of how the junkyard of Chandigarh became the object of interest for Christie’s has more to do with neglect of heritage than its value. Antique dealers from around the world went to government junkyards and bought furniture that was especially created by Le Corbusier’s colleagues for the new city for as little as Rs.100, restored it, and shipped it to New York and Paris as antiques.
“For decades we sat on our heritage, considering it to be nothing more than a dead load, until someone came from outside and made huge money out of it,†said an official at the Le Corbusier centre here. “Few gave the furniture a second glance,†he added.
Pieces such as original Pierre Jeanneret teak armchairs in Chandigarh government offices were never seen as objects of beauty, let alone heritage. And were stored in dump yards, sold to junk dealers, or used as fuel during cold winter nights, until one of those pieces made its way to the Christie’s in New York with a reserve price of $8,000 to $12,000.
Bid to archive stocks
Rajnish Wattas, then Principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture, was stunned when he saw the catalogue for a sale at Christie’s New York last June, titled ‘Chandigarh.’ He then founded Chandigarh’s Heritage Furniture Committee in an attempt to archive the remaining stocks of the Jeanneret designs.
M. N. Sharma, the last surviving architect who worked closely with Le Corbusier, expressed sadness at the way heritage was being lost: “There is a general lack of appreciation here of the city’s architecture. While countries are thriving on their ruined past, we are ruining our present and future. Modern heritage deserves to be preserved and showcased, but the new wave of short-sighted development is demolishing the original master plan of India’s first planned city.â€
Posted By Staff Reporter
in Punjab News
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