Pair of Chandigarh heritage chairs fetches Rs 11.55 lakh in Luxembourg auction

Chandigarh, July 11

In yet another auction of UT’s heritage items, a pair of armchairs was sold for Rs 11.55 lakh in Luxembourg on July 9. The chairs were designed by Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret, cousin of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who had planned Chandigarh.

Demanding protection of UT’s heritage articles from being auctioned overseas, Ajay Jagga, a member of Heritage Items Protection Cell, Chandigarh Administration, in a letter to S Jaishankar, Minister for External Affairs (MEA), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Culture and Minister of Tourism, and Saurabh Kumar, Ambassador of India to Luxembourg, stated that in response to his last representation on the same issue, the Ministry of Culture took action and asked the agencies like Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to look into the matter. However, the MEA was yet to take cognisance of the matter, he added.

“In continuation of my earlier submissions for protection of national heritage from being auctioned all over the world, I am submitting this communication regarding the latest auction conducted by an auction house in Luxembourg on July 9. In fact, heritage articles are being auctioned regularly in foreign countries without any resistance from the Government of India,” he added.

In the letter, he requested that the Indian Embassies in foreign countries must be sensitised about the Indian heritage, so that they could raise the alarm on getting information about such auctions.