Chandigarh, derives its name from the temple ChandiMandir located in the vicinity of the site selected for the city. The deity Chandi, the goddess of power and a fort or 'garh' lying beyond the temple gave the City its name.

Chandigarh is a modern city with a pre-historic past. The gently sloping plain on which modern Chandigarh exists, was in the aeons past, when the Himalayas were young, a wide lake ringed by a marsh. The fossil remains found at the site testify to a large variety of aquatic and amphibian life which that environment supported. Some 8000 years ago Chandigarh was home to the Harappans. Their potsherds, stone implements, ornamentals and copper arrow-heads unearthed during the excavation in 1950s and 1960s testify this. Area near the Church of Sector 18, Sunbeam Hotel, Sector 22 , Indira Holiday Home, Sector 24, CII Complex, Sector 31 etc. were some of the sites from where a lot of relics of Harappans Civilization were found and excavated.

Chandigarh was conceived as the capital of Punjab, in lieu of its lost capital at Lahore after the partition of the country in 1947. But Punjab was divided a second time in 1966, and Chandigarh is today the capital of the states of both Punjab and Haryana. However, the city does not belong to either. Chandigarh is now a Union Territory, administered by the Government of India.

Chandigarh belongs to its people. They love the city, and are proud of the quality of life it continues to provide. Chandigarh is one of the greatest experiments in urban planning and modern architecture of the twentieth century. A bold venture which came to fruition with the just a position of a great vision that the India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru nurtured, and the genius of a French architect Le Corbusier and his team. Today Chandigarh is 114 square kilometers of pulsating, modern town famous for its architecture and landscaping world over. It combines elegant architectural forms with wide tree-lined avenues, green belts and gardens and offers a idyllic living experience to its residents and visitors