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Sanskar Kendra - City Museum Ahmedabad - Le Corbusier Museum

Sanskar Kendra – City Museum Ahmedabad – Le Corbusier Museum

Sanskar Kendra Ahmedabad also known as Le Corbusier Museum in Ahmedabad is among the most visited museums in the city. It is also recognized as a city museum Ahmedabad. Sanskar Kendra museum was built by the French architecture genius Le Corbusier. Artfully preservation of the ethos, tradition and history is an integral part of Ahmedabad city that you can find rarely anywhere else in the state. The city has successfully preserved it’s culture carefully through many museums and Ahmedabad’s Sanskar Kendra is one of them. It has a long list of artifacts and important exhibits related to the achievement of the Ahmedabad city in 20th century. This Cultural Centre of Ahmedabad stands to display all of the city’s history related to archeology, anthropology, sculping, business & economics, infrastructure development and more.
Established in 5th April 2000, this museum in city is also known as Atit Ki Jhanki, which means the window to the past of Ahmedabad city in the local Gujarati language. It shows the great collection of medieval coins, documents, scripts and historic articles in Devnagari and Urdu scripts. Some of the articles from the era of medieval India like art pieces, pottery, wood articles and frescoes are amongst must to see in this museum. The museum offers to explore the diversified history of the Ahmedabad city through the glass of modern architecture. It is shocking to know that the name of the museum was not planned to have Sanskar Kendra earlier, while its designing and construction period. Le Corbusier had suggested as “Museum of Knowledge” for it.

The Le Corbusier Museum, also known as Sanskar Kendra is standing on pillars through which the building is entered into an open square. That leads to a ramp and then comes the exhibition levels. This path leads to spiral squares sizes in 14 meters wide. The architectural design and the precautions of the structure is taken against the extreme temperature during the day time. The great time to visit this museum in Ahmedabad is around the late evening or at midnight when the open sky and the wind offer a wonderful atmosphere with a flowered surface formed by basins and filled with water. The water of the basin is coming under design that protected from the boiling sun through the shades of thick plants and vegetation. Each water basin is roofed with strewn with leaves or flowers floating on the surface of the water. The same water provides all necessary nourishments to the plants for surviving and for enormous growth. This is definitely far beyond the normal size of the plants.

Sanskar Kendra City Museum Image Gallery

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SANSKAR KENDRA

Sanskar Kendra is an integrated approach of two separate museums;
THE MUSEUM OF THE CITY
THE KITE MUSEUM (PATANG MUSEUM)

The museum of the city is purely focused on the historical aspects of the Ahmedabad city. It reflects age-old traditions, culture, business and economic aspects, political view of the city through historically noteworthy credentials. However, the collection of The Museum of The City is not limited to the time period of Ahmedabad only, there are certain documents dated back of the time when the city was “Ashaval”.

The second portion of the Sanskar Kendra stands for the city’s love and tradition for Kite Flying. Makar Sankranti is the favorite festival of Ahmedabad city and The Kite Museum is solely dedicated to it.

DESIGN OF SANSKAR KENDRA

The design of the Sanskar Kendra is very unique. It is spread across 27,000 Sq. Ft of building. However, the most exciting part of the building is its Pilotis or pillars. It is the signature aspect of this building. The entire building is standing on few pillars which gives it the modest look with simplicity. The weather of the city also got close attention while designing the Sanskar Kendra. There is an indigenous cooling system applied to the entire building to save visitors from the scorching heat of the city which even reaches to 45-degree centigrade in the pick summer. There are different patches of greenery inside the building, sun-shading, and water basins at the top which helps the building to cool. The lighting inside the building gives a bespoke appearance to the entire ambiance.

However, such a design of the roof of this Paldi Sanskar Kendra is thoroughly experimental and has a different origin as well. It was first discussed in an after-dinner conversation at the residence of the Princess de Polignac, in Paris in 1930 in presence of Comtesse de Noailles, Prof. Fourneau and Le Corbusier. Also the electrical installation inside the museum building has different arrangements. It is placed under the entire surface of the ceiling to get the effect of the shadow of the plants. Therefore it is possible to get the illumination inside the building in solo and in duo mixing with sunlight as well. This rare illumination of the Ahmedabad Sanskar Kendra museum has become an integral part of the museum’s feeling on the visitors.

The museum building of Sanskar Kendra in Ahmedabad city is divided into four major parts of The Shodhan Villa, The Sarabhai Villa, The ATMA House (Ahmedabad Textile Mill-Owners Association) and Sanskar Kendra. Le Corbusier, the architect who is largely known for his experimental designs with walkway style, makes this Le Corbusier museum in Ahmedabad city the gesture by bringing in a huge but graceful ramp through which visitors can demeanor in the building.

Visitors of the Ahmedabad City Museum Sanskar Kendra can see the evidence of the Industrial Revolution in Ahmedabad and also the effects of Gandhism, based on the Sabarmati Ashram not so far away from City Museum. Ahmedabad used to be one of the most prominent locations for textile production and also called the Manchester of the East during the past years. The City Museum Ahmedabad presents this glorious past in precious memorabilia and historic artifacts. Visitors can get a glimpse of fabric produced in the Ahmedabad city like brocade, Chinese embroidery, floor carpets, tents and royal attire. Other interesting things inside the museum walls are some of the antique cameras and equipments. Also the different old books preserved inside the City Museum of Ahmedabad reveal details related to the religion of Jainism, Hinduism, Vaishnavism, Jewism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and Christianity.

On your visit to Ahmedabad city do not miss this excellent Sanskar Kendra at Paladi also known as City Museum Ahmedabad designed by Le Corbusier to explore the memorabilia and excellent artwork related to Ahmedabad city and its history. A visit to this museum will surely be an inspiring experience for anyone.