Heritage house

The Virasat-E-Khalsa rises. Thirteen years and countless controversies later. Fifteen of the twenty-five galleries at this spectacular, sixty-five acre museum at Anandpur Sahib, near Chandigarh, are now open for public viewing (virasatekhalsa.in). A modern shrine in a bucolic setting, it chronicles and celebrates five hundred years of Sikhism and the three-hundredth anniversary of the formation of the Khalsa or army of soldier-saints.

The idea that Israeli architect Moshe Safdie builds upon evokes the fortresses of Punjab and Rajasthan (not Star Wars, in case you were wondering). And the concave stainless steel roof acts as a foil to the domes of Amritsar&rsquos Golden Temple. With two interconnected wings housing a library, an archive, a 400-seat auditorium and multimedia exhibition areas livened up with music and interactive technology like audio guides triggered by movement, the thirteen years and several crores appear to have been well spent.