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Il tesoro di Chandigarh
“The city that sat on its treasures but didn’t
see them” is how the New York Times described
Chandigarh, architectural manifesto of Le
Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.
If everyone knows that in the Indian city of
Punjab the workers in the principal public
buildings have the privilege of working in
real modernist masterpieces, there are few
who imagined that inside these buildings
even the original furnishings have remained
intact. Icons of design, such as the V Chair
designed by Pierre Jeanneret, have been
used with nonchalance for decades by
employees who, probably, dreamed of more
modern furniture. Many succumbed to the
temptation to get rid of them, selling them
for a few rupees, without imagining that
they were bought by gallery managers and
then sold at major international auction
houses for tens of thousands of dollars.
A good earner, since not many antiques
dealers were assiduous frequenters of the
Indian city. So piece after piece, the modernist
treasure was taken apart. However,
after an alarm launched by a number of
local architects and officials, the curious
tale seems set to have a happy ending: the
city authorities have set about making the
Chandigarh Heritage Furniture Committee. E.S.
