Once envisioned as a hub for educating the public on gardening and plant life, Chandigarh’s Horticulture Museum in Rose Garden, Sector 16, has remained shut and neglected for more than a decade. Inaugurated in 1973 by then Adviser to the Administrator Baleshwar Rai, the museum was designed as a unique space dedicated to horticultural education. Today, however, it serves only as a storage facility for the annual Rose Festival.
Most visitors to the garden are unaware that the building was ever a museum. “I have been working here for the past 10 to 12 years, and the museum was already closed when I joined. Now, it is only used to keep Rose Festival materials,” said the museum’s caretaker.
“I thought the building was part of the garden or a storage facility,” said Seema, a visitor. “It’s been closed for so long that people have forgotten its original purpose,” added Baldev, a regular visitor.
Rahul Mahajan, founder of the Organic Sharing Foundation, expressed concern over the museum’s deterioration. “It is a heritage building, and it’s sad to see it abandoned and used only as a store now,” he said. “When it was first built, the museum displayed large portraits of roses, the process of budding, crafting, and growing different varieties. All of that has been lost since the Municipal Corporation took charge around 2012.”
Mahajan said he has written to the authorities, offering to take over the building’s upkeep. “If the administration cannot maintain the museum, they should hand it over to us. We are ready to restore and reopen it so it can serve its original purpose,” he said.
The Horticulture Museum is a fading reminder of Chandigarh’s lost public heritage.
