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The Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a
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 complex of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered 
His work was in danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion on his side. In 1976 the park was inaugurated as a public space. Nek Chand was given a salary, a title ("Sub-Divisional Engineer, Rock Garden") and 50 laborers so that he could work full-time. The Rock Garden appeared on an Indian stamp in 1983. The Rock Garden is still made out of recycled materials. With the government's help, Chand was able to set up collection centers around the city for waste, especially rags and broken ceramics.
When Chand left the country on a lecture tour in 1996, 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.
The garden is visited by over 5,000 people daily, with more than 12 million visitors since its inception.
Image:RockGardenEntrance.jpg, Entrance
Image:Rock Garden Memory Stone, Chandigarh, India.jpg, Dedication day memorial, 7 July 1988.
Image:RockGarden.jpg, Rock Garden,Chandigarh,India
Image:Dancing girls at Rock Garden, Chandigarh.jpg, Dancing girls at Rock Garden, Chandigarh.
Image:Decorated wall at Rock Garden, Chandigarh.jpg, Decorated wall at Rock Garden.
Nekchand Foundation website
{{Authority control Visionary environments Gardens in India Parks in Chandigarh Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in India
sculpture garden
A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings.
A sculpture garden may be private, owned by ...
for rock enthusiasts in Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. 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 , and is completely built from industrial, home waste, and discarded items.
Description
The Rock Garden sits near Sukhna Lake. It consists of man-made interlinkedwaterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in severa ...
s and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap and other kinds of waste (bottle
A bottle is a narrow-necked container made of an impermeable material (such as glass, plastic or aluminium) in various shapes and sizes that stores and transports liquids. Its mouth, at the bottling line, can be sealed with an internal stop ...
s, glasses, bangles, tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...
s, ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
pots, sink
A sink is a bowl-shaped plumbing fixture for washing hands, dishwashing, and other purposes. Sinks have a tap (faucet) that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing. They also include a drain t ...
s, electrical waste, broken pipe
Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to:
Objects
* Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules
** Piping, the use of pipes in industry
* Smoking pipe
** Tobacco pipe
* Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...
s, etc.) which are placed in walled paths.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 complex of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
sculptures of dancers, musicians, and animals.
His work was in danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion on his side. In 1976 the park was inaugurated as a public space. Nek Chand was given a salary, a title ("Sub-Divisional Engineer, Rock Garden") and 50 laborers so that he could work full-time. The Rock Garden appeared on an Indian stamp in 1983. The Rock Garden is still made out of recycled materials. With the government's help, Chand was able to set up collection centers around the city for waste, especially rags and broken ceramics.
When Chand left the country on a lecture tour in 1996, 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.
The garden is visited by over 5,000 people daily, with more than 12 million visitors since its inception.
Dolls Museum
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.Gallery
See also
*List of single-artist museums
This is a list of single-artist museums, which are museums displaying the work of, or bearing the name of, a single visual artist.
* Basuki Abdullah – Basoeki Abdullah Museum, Jakarta, Indonesia
* Affandi – Affandi Museum, Yogyakarta, Indon ...
Further reading
* ''Nek Chand's outsider art: the rock garden of Chandigarh'', by Lucienne Peiry, John Maizels, Philippe Lespinasse, Nek Chand. Published by Flammarion, 2006. . * ''The Collection, the Ruin and the Theatre: Architecture, sculpture and landscape in Nek Chand's Rock Garden'', by Soumyen Bandyopadhyay and Iain Jackson. Liverpool University Press, 2007. . * ''Sublime Spaces and Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists'', by Leslie Umberger (author),Erika Doss
Erika Lee Doss is an American educator and author, having served as a professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
Doss received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1983, and "has held fellowships at t ...
(contributor), Ruth Kohler (contributor), Lisa Stone (contributor).
References
External links
Nekchand Foundation website
{{Authority control Visionary environments Gardens in India Parks in Chandigarh Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in India
Chandigarh
Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
Tourist attractions in Chandigarh
1957 establishments in East Punjab