Khalsa Heritage Centre | Safdie Architects

The Khalsa Heritage Centre (KHC), a new museum of the Sikh people located in the holy town of Anandpur Sahib, in Punjab, India will be dedicated to the nation by Sardar Parkash Singh Badal, the Honorable Chief Minister of Punjab, in a ceremony on November 25, 2011, at 11:00 a.m. Designed by the architect and urban planner Moshe Safdie, the Khalsa Heritage Center celebrates 500 years of Sikh history and the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa, the scriptures written by the tenth and last Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, founder of the modern Sikh faith. Deeply rooted in its surrounding landscape and resonating with regional architecture, the Centre seemingly rises from nearby sand cliffs. Clad with local sandstone and evoking the fortress cities of Rajasthan, Gwalior, and Punjab, the Centre acknowledges the Sikhs’ history as celebrated warriors. The upwardly curving roofs of the museum’s tower-like galleries are covered in stainless steel, designed in counterpoint to the rich tradition of gold domes that crown sacred Sikh buildings such as the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The museum campus is composed of two functionally integrated sets of buildings. The western complex, forming a gateway to Anandpur Sahib, houses exhibition galleries; a two-level library centered around a grand reading room overlooks water gardens; a facility for storing rare archival materials; and a 400-seat auditorium. A 540-foot bridge from the western complex crosses a seven-acre network of reflecting pools, providing access to the eastern complex, which houses permanent exhibitions presenting Sikh history, religion, and culture.