To conserve and restore the city’s heritage items, the UT cultural department is set to establish the first heritage furniture museum on the first floor of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Heritage Centre in Sector 18.
The action taken report in this regard will be presented during the meeting of the UT Administrator’s Advisory Council on September 14.
During the sub-committee meeting held on August 22, it was discussed that the department of urban planning was working on various aspects, such as viability, need, target audience, maintenance, manpower deployment and day-to-day expenses, among others.
In the council’s meeting held on August 18 last year, Rajnish Wattas, a member of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee, had suggested that there should be a space in the erstwhile Government Press Building in Sector 18 for the furniture museum.
The department has already formed a committee under the chairmanship of senior architect Rajiv Mehta to identify the heritage items afresh.
A senior UT officer mentioned that the first floor of the IAF Heritage Centre had a large hall that will house the heritage furniture museum. Since the 1990s, the city’s heritage furniture, made primarily from locally available materials like teak, sheesham, and cane, and cushioned with sturdy cotton fabrics, has been finding its way to auction houses in various countries, despite a 2011 order by the Union ministry of home affairs banning the sale and export of Chandigarh’s heritage furniture.
{{/usCountry}}A senior UT officer mentioned that the first floor of the IAF Heritage Centre had a large hall that will house the heritage furniture museum. Since the 1990s, the city’s heritage furniture, made primarily from locally available materials like teak, sheesham, and cane, and cushioned with sturdy cotton fabrics, has been finding its way to auction houses in various countries, despite a 2011 order by the Union ministry of home affairs banning the sale and export of Chandigarh’s heritage furniture.
{{/usCountry}}In 2012, as per a list compiled by the Chandigarh Heritage Inventory Committee, the city had 12,793 heritage items, made and used by French architect Le Corbusier, his cousin and Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret, and others associated with the founding and planning of Chandigarh in the 1950s and 60s.
Of these, a large number are in the possession of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10. Besides a huge stock of chairs and tables are at the Punjab and Haryana Secretariat,Vidhan Sabha, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
In November 2022, a delegation from the Le Corbusier Foundation had guided the UT administration on establishing the authenticity of heritage items and tagging them, besides guidelines/processes to be followed for their conservation, restoration and legal protection.
Foundation’s director Brigittee Bouvier had termed the smuggling and auctioning of Chandigarh’s heritage furniture unfortunate, stating that it needed to be protected by all means.
In November 2023, police attaché of the French Embassy in India, police commissioner Fabrice Cotelle had said the UT administration had not taken any steps to stop the pilferage of heritage furniture from Chandigarh to other countries.
According to police records, eight cases related to theft of heritage furniture are pending in Chandigarh, but there has been no progress.