The Open Hand Monument is Chandigarh's official emblem, a large rotating steel sculpture of an open palm standing in the Capitol Complex, conceived by the city's principal architect Le Corbusier as a symbol of peace and reconciliation, and openness to give and receive. Standing over 26 metres tall and designed to pivot with the wind, it is one of the most recognisable pieces of public art anywhere in India.
Positioned within the same UNESCO-listed Capitol Complex as the High Court, Secretariat and Assembly buildings, the monument functions as the symbolic centrepiece tying together Le Corbusier's broader architectural vision for the city — a visual statement of Chandigarh's founding ideals as India's first fully planned post-independence city.
Conceived by Le Corbusier as early as the 1950s but only completed and installed in 1985, well after the architect's death, the monument realised a design concept he had also proposed unsuccessfully for other cities, making Chandigarh's the definitive built version.
October to March.
Within the Capitol Complex in Sector 1; visits require prior permission from the Chandigarh tourism office, same as the surrounding government buildings.
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