
22/08/2025
The mazing Rock Garden of Chandigarh
The Rock Garden Chandigarh officially known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden, is a 35 acre eco-friendly sprawling open-air exhibition, is a testament to the boundless creativity of the human spirit. Amid acres of woodland, the chambers and courtyards are populated by Chand’s distinctive sculptures, created using discarded waste and industrial debris.
In 1958 Nek Chand, a government road inspector started secretly turning waste material that he picked up from the streets, into beauty. He was working as a road inspector by day but in his spare time he created a secret garden. Magnificent figures came to light as he used broken bathroom fittings, electric plug moulds, bottles, bangles, cooking pots, and whatever else he could find to create amazing rock sculptures of queens and kings, beggars, school children, monkeys, elephants, camels at a forest clearing outside Chandigarh city.
He had been building illegally on city land and could have been in serious trouble.
It wasn’t until the city authorities discovered the secret garden that anyone knew what Chand had been doing and there was possibility of it getting destroyed.
Thankfully, the garden was loved by the locals and there was enough supporters to save it. Authorities eventually even provided Chand with 50 labourers to work full time and take the garden to the next level. Collection centres were set up around the city. These provided Chand and others with waste to re-use and turn into art.
It eventually gained official recognition and was inaugurated in 1976.
The Layout of Garden is based on the fantasy of a Lost Kingdom. It has 14 different chambers like the forecourt.
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