After World War II, the British left India, which had been their colony for two centuries. Shortly thereafter, India was divided into two states: the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The former capital of India, Lahore, became part of Pakistan and India had to find a place to locate its administration. The solution chosen by the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was surprising - to build an entirely new city according to the most modern urban and architectural principles, while preserving Indian traditions. The brief was 'no neo-classical monuments or Beaux-Arts splendour, but the best of modern architecture and urban planning'. Néhru entrusted the task to the American architect Albert Mayer in 1949. His concept of the garden city was subsequently reworked by Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier collaborated on the final design with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and two London architects and modernists, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry.

The exhibition presents Chandigarh in its historical context as well as its contemporary problems in both planned and unplanned aspects.