Martyrs’ memorial to be reality soon

Ramkrishan Upadhyay    

The martyrs’ memorial, one of the most important incomplete projects of master architect Le Corbusier in the Capitol Complex, will come up soon. 

Sources  said the UT Administration had roped  in the National Gallery of Modern Art,   New Delhi, to  complete the project. The Director General  of the  National Gallery of the Modern Art has agreed to help the Administration complete the project. 

The martyrs’ memorial was conceived  by Le Corbusier to honour the memory of those who died fighting for the freedom of the country. The memorial has three components i.e. architectural with mythological symbols, sculptures like lion, snakes, man and debris. The debris  symbolise the downfall of the British Empire in India. 

The UT Department of Urban Planning has some drawings of the project,  supplied by Le Corbusier in 1956.  At present, the memorial has a square enclosure with an elongated side.  According to Corbusier’s  drawings, it was supposed to have sculptures and a debris section. While a building stands in the Capitol Complex, the thought with which the monument was conceptualised has not been fulfilled.  

The Capitol Complex, one of the most renowned creations of Le Corbusier, comprises three buildings—Punjab and Haryana High Court, Assembly and the Secretariat.

Besides, six monuments were to be part of the complex. Of these, the martyrs’ memorial is the one project, which is incomplete.