Jawahar Kala Kendra

Jawahar Kala Kendra is a cultural centre on Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg in Jhalana Doongri, south Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. It was designed by the architect Charles Correa and completed in 1992 as a state arts centre for Rajasthan, named after Jawaharlal Nehru. Its plan is a modern reading of the 18th-century city: Correa based it on the nine-square mandala grid used by Sawai Jai Singh II for Jaipur in 1727, with eight squares of galleries, studios, libraries and theatres arranged around a central open square. One square is deliberately left as a void, echoing the tradition of the Navagraha, or nine celestial bodies, and each square is associated with a planet, expressed through colour, geometry and the placement of walls and doors. The walls are finished in local sandstone and plaster, with stepped courtyards, circular forms and strong geometry. The centre contains galleries for temporary and permanent exhibitions, a crafts museum, auditoriums, an open-air amphitheatre and a library, and it hosts theatre, dance, music and art festivals throughout the year. The crafts museum shows regional textiles, metalwork, toys and other objects of everyday Rajasthani life, while the galleries stage changing exhibitions of contemporary art and photography. The approach is thematic and architectural, so visitors read the building as an exhibit in itself, tracing the symbolic plan from the entrance square to the central courtyard. Correa's design has been studied as an example of post-independence Indian modernism that draws on traditional planning and cosmology. The building has needed upkeep over time, with weathering to concrete and sandstone surfaces, and the Rajasthan government agency that runs the centre has carried out periodic repairs and gallery upgrades. Gallery hours vary with exhibitions and performances, so checking the programme before visiting is wise. It lies away from the Old City, so a taxi or auto-rickshaw is the practical way to reach it.