With billboards putting along the road to Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex saying 'Bienvenue' or 'welcome', the higher authorities rolled out a red carpet welcome to French President, Francois Hollande on Sunday in the City Beautiful.
The chief guest for India's 67th Republic Day celebration, Hollande had chosen 'the City Beautiful' Chandigarh that enjoys an interesting French connection as his first stop in the country.
Hollande visit to city’s Capitol Complex, a paragon of elegance designed by French architect le Corbusier left him amazed as he expressed his appreciation during his address at India-France Business Summit later.
“It was brave and unusual to create such buildings at that time,” said the French President after visiting the Capitol Complex alongwith Prime Minister Modi.
Speaking at the Summit in the evening, Hollande said, “I hope UNESCO will soon recognise these architectural landmarks as world heritage sites.”
Capitol Complex was one of the architectural landmarks designed by Corbusier who had led a team of European planners to design Chandigarh. The country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted the city to be a symbol of post-independence modern India.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court and legislative Assembly buildings were among those visited by Hollande and Modi in the Complex.
The French President also made a special mention of ‘Open hand’ monument, the city’s official emblem, giving a message of ‘Open to give, Open to receive”. The monument was designed in the form of a giant hand made from metal sheets that rotates like a weathercock indicating the direction of wind. This giant hand is 14 metres high and weighs around 50 tonnes.
Perhaps, no city in the world could welcome the President Hollande with a hand as big and open as the one in the City Beautiful.
“France has an umbilical link with Chandigarh,” said Modi referring to French architect le Corbusier during his speech at the Summit.
Chandigarh, which is the first planned city in India after the country got Independence in 1947, is known across the world for its architecture and urban design.
like in the case of the city itself, the Complex was designed by Corbusier.
located in the heart of Chandigarh, the Complex houses the seats of Government of both Punjab and Haryana. Corbusier planned the city on the lines of a human body — the Capitol Complex was to be the head of the body, the commercial centre its heart, the industrial area its hand and the intellectual centre being the parkland.
The main buildings in Complex are the secretariat complex, the legislative assembly complex and the high court Complex. The 'Open Hand' monument, the symbol of Chandigarh, is also in the complex.
The Capitol Complex is the part of a trans-national dossier on the work of Corbusier, which has been jointly submitted to UNESCO by seven countries, including France for world heritage status.
Hollande was the second foreign dignitary on a State visit to land in the city, after then Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani came here straight from lahore to watch the Cricket World Cup semifinal match between India and Pakistan at Mohali in 2011.
The President arrived here on Sunday afternoon as he began his three-day visit to India during which, among other things, he will be attending the Republic Day function as chief guest.
Modi had reached Chandigarh, around 80 minutes after Hollande's arrival here at 1 pm.
Visit to Rock Garden
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed French President Francois Hollande at Chandigarh's popular Rock Garden on Sunday afternoon.
Modi and Hollande greeted each other with a warm handshake and a hug on a wintry afternoon.
Both leaders took a round of a section of the Rock Garden which has been created entirely from waste material by its founder, late Nek Chand.
The sculpture kingdom-Rock Garden in Chandigarh also consists of man-made interlinked waterfalls and many other sculptures that have been made of scrap and other kinds of wastes. The Garden is renowned place among national and international community and connoisseurs come from different parts of the world to see this astonishing garden.
Created on the lines of Chandigarh’s Rock Garden by distinguished artist Nek Chand, there are eight other Rock Gardensacross the globe except the one in Chandigarh. Owing to the same fact, people across the world come to visit city’s Rock Garden not only to admire the exquisiteness of this sculpture kingdom but also to lend a helping hand in cleaning graffiti or repairing sculptures at the Garden.
After spending some time at Rock Garden, Modi and Hollande left for Capitol Complex.
Visit to Government Museum and Art Gallery
Hollande and Modi also paid a joint visit to the Government Museum and Art Gallery in Chandigarh. The two leaders viewed the displays of archaeological findings from the foothills of the Himalayas which suggest human activity possibly dating back to 2.6 million years ago, making them among the oldest known remnants of human existence. This significant discovery is the result of seven years of extensive research and collaboration between the Prehistory Department of the National Museum of Natural History of France and the Society of Archaeological and Anthropological Research of Chandigarh undertaken under the auspices of an “Agreement of Collaboration between Society for Archaeological & Anthropological Research, India and French National Museum of Natural History”.
The archaeological discovery comprises about 1500 fossil finds, including 200 quartzite tools collected from several locations spread over 50 acres of area in Masol region near Chandigarh. The research work relating to this archaeological discovery is being published in the form of articles in the Palevol Review.
The Prime Minister and President Hollande congratulated the Indo-French team for their joint research work leading to this discovery. They underlined that this example of successful bilateral collaboration illustrated the long-standing cultural ties and enduring collaboration between India and France in rediscovering, preserving and promoting our shared cultural heritage. They hoped that such discoveries would lend further momentum for more joint endeavours in the future.