Rock Garden

                                  ROCK GARDEN

The Rock Garden is a sculpture garden. It is also known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden 
after its founder Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his free 
time in 1957. Today, it is spread over 40 acres. It is completely built of home and industrial 
waste and thrown-away items.

It is near the Sukhna Lake. It consists of man-made inter-linked waterfalls and many other 
sculptures that have been made of scrap and other kinds of wastes (bottles, glasses, bangles, 
tiles, ceramic pots, sinks, electrical waste,broken pipes, etc.) which are placed in the walled 
paths.

History Of Rock Garden

Nek Chand started collecting materials from demolition sites around the city in his spare time. 
He recycled these materials and chose a gorge in a forest near Sukhna Lake for his work. The
gorge had been designated as a land conservancy in 1902 that nothing could be built on. Nek
Chand’s work was illegal, but he was able to hide it for 18 years before it was discovered by
the authorities in 1975. By this time, it had grown into a 12-acre area of interlinked courtyards,
each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete sculptures of musicians, dancers and 
animals.

Nek Chand’s work was in danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion 
on his side and in 1976 the park was inaugurated. Nek Chand was given a salary, a title 
"Sub-Divisional Engineer, Rock Garden", and 50 laborers so that he could devote full-time on 
his work. It also appeared on an Indian stamp in 1983. With the help of government, Nek 
Chand was able to set up centers around the city for collecting waste, especially rags and 
broken ceramic.

In 1996, The Rock Garden Society took over the administration when Nek Chand left the 

country on a lecture tour and the city withdrew its funding and took responsibility of this unique
visionary environment.

The garden is visited by thousands of people daily, with more than 12 million visitors since its 

inception. Teej Festival is also celebrated with lot of pride by women at Rock Garden 
Chandigarh