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The open hand monument - Chandigarh India – Le Corbusier
One of the most significant monuments planned by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh is the Open Hand. The monument is a place to visit in Chandigarh. Rising 26 metres high from a sunken trench, a giant hand in metal sheets is designed to rotate "like a weather cock, not to show the incertitude of ideas, but to indicate symbolically the direction of wind (that is the state of affairs)." It is also meant to convey a message of peace "open to receive." Amongst the other monumental places to visit in Chandigarh are the Tower of Shadows, Geometric Hill, and Martyr's Memorial. This monument, designed by Le Corbusier but not built until 1972, is an abstract copper-clad “hand” held aloft by a steel column — “open to give, open to receive,” in the architect’s vision. The sculpture swings in the wind, like a gigantic weather vane. At its base, Corbu designed the “Pit of Contemplation” as an area for citizen debates, theater and other aspects of civic life. For many years, though, the Open Hand was deserted, its surrounds used for cricket matches or as an occasional strolling ground by occupants of nearby villages. Of civic activity, there was none. The only regular visitors were architects and aficionados of Modernism, who came to gaze at this iconic anomaly in the middle of an empty landscape.
DSC_3840
The open hand monument - Chandigarh India – Le Corbusier
One of the most significant monuments planned by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh is the Open Hand. The monument is a place to visit in Chandigarh. Rising 26 metres high from a sunken trench, a giant hand in metal sheets is designed to rotate "like a weather cock, not to show the incertitude of ideas, but to indicate symbolically the direction of wind (that is the state of affairs)." It is also meant to convey a message of peace "open to receive." Amongst the other monumental places to visit in Chandigarh are the Tower of Shadows, Geometric Hill, and Martyr's Memorial. This monument, designed by Le Corbusier but not built until 1972, is an abstract copper-clad “hand” held aloft by a steel column — “open to give, open to receive,” in the architect’s vision. The sculpture swings in the wind, like a gigantic weather vane. At its base, Corbu designed the “Pit of Contemplation” as an area for citizen debates, theater and other aspects of civic life. For many years, though, the Open Hand was deserted, its surrounds used for cricket matches or as an occasional strolling ground by occupants of nearby villages. Of civic activity, there was none. The only regular visitors were architects and aficionados of Modernism, who came to gaze at this iconic anomaly in the middle of an empty landscape.