Top Facts About The Rock Garden Chandigarh

Be it, adults or children, people of all ages have a soft spot for gardens. A love that is developed from a tender age, that nurtures as time flies by, a bond is established between the two entities that withstand the test of time. It’s close to impossible to find a person devoid of liking towards gardens. Our city is well known for its beauty, and one of the attributes of its lush greenery is the famous Rock Garden of Chandigarh. 

With other names of this historical masterpiece including ‘Nek Chand’s Rock Garden,’ after its famous founder Nek Chand, this wondrous garden was established in 1957. A government worker tasked with handling arduous responsibilities, Chand liked tending to gardens in his free time, and it was his sole dedication that was behind the establishment of this gift to or city. 

Spread over an area of over forty acres (160,000 square meters), this garden boasts the feature of being one of the most eco-friendly gardens in the country since it is built solely and entirely by industrial, home waste and items involved in recurrent usage which was soon discarded. The sculptures we see in our beloved garden were all created by the usage of ceramic pots, glass bangles, bottles, tiles, and electrical waste. 

The brilliantly crafted sculptures aren’t the only delights this garden has to offer. The man-made linked waterfalls only add to the serenity of a place that never ceases to blow our minds away. When we dive deeper into the details as to how the Rock Gardens was created, and how it achieved its famous name, it is believed that Chand, in his first attempts, was known to collect scrap materials from demolition sites all around Chandigarh. 

After attaining these items, he then recycled them into his visualization of a divine kingdom of Sukrani. Recycling these wastes was not an easy process. He had to go to the Sukhna lake, deep into a gorge to ensure its effective recycling. The work that Chand was carrying out was illegal, yet it remained hidden from the authorities, at least long enough for the Rock Garden to step from a dream into reality. When the authorities did find what Chand was doing, all his work would have been destroyed, had he not had public support on his side. The Rock Garden was inaugurated in 1976. With Chand being assigned the head, he was also given fifty laborers who would work under him in scaling new heights for a garden that had already raised such high expectations. 

Years after Chand’s work bore fruit, his core ideas for the garden continue to stay in circulation, with the garden still functioning on recycling materials, and collection centers being set up all around the city for the sole purpose of collecting waste materials. There was a time when Chand was forced to abandon watch on his beloved garden, when in 1996; he left for a lecture tour. Due to a full-fledged attack by the vandal, the city was forced to withdraw its funding, and the Rock Garden Society came into play. They have managed the garden ever since. The Rock Gardens is a common tourist spot, since it has a daily footfall of 5,000 people, with over 12 million people have visited this gem of a structure which provides a true essence of Chandigarh. 

The Teej festival is one of the many festivals organized here, celebrating the pride of women today at our very own Rock Garden Chandigarh. 

That sums up our article on facts about the Rock Garden. If you haven’t seen this wonder of our nation, now is the time to do so.