Three architectural masterpieces of the City Beautiful, together called the Capitol Complex, will be thrown open to the general public and foreign tourists with easy access from April 15. Residents will have easy access to the complex, that includes the buildings of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Secretariat and Legislative Assembly, after a gap of 20 years.
Under the new system, after online registration, applicants will be divided into groups of 25 each. The visits will be allowed in three times slots: 10 am to 12 pm, 12 pm to 2 pm and 3 pm to 5 pm, according to the visitors’ preference. The visitors will be guided by officials appointed at the tourist information centre at the entry point of the Capitol Complex. The 1.5-hour guided tour on foot will familiarise the visitors with the open hand monument and the buildings of Punjab and Haryana High Court, Secretariat and Legislative assembly designed by Le Corbusier.Concrete pathways were recently constructed for seamless walk tours inside the complex. Students of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), Sector 12, have been appointed as tourist guides at the information centre inside the Capitol Complex.By October, the complex will be illuminated for allowing visits after 5 pm as well. The open hand monument inside the complex was accessible to the public until 2011 but was closed for visitor entry with fencing and barricades. There was no bar for entry to the Capitol Complex until 1995. The area was cordoned off due to security reasons after former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination in 1995.