Delhi's Jantar Mantar added as venue for Indian Biennale 2026

Vivek Aggarwal, secretary, ministry of culture, told HT last month that the whole of Delhi will be a stage for the Biennale.

Jantar Mantar, one of the five astronomical observatories built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur in the early 18th century, has been added as a venue for the upcoming India Biennale 2026, organised by the ministry of culture.

The India Biennale website was updated on Thursday to reflect the addition.

The 108-day art, architecture and design festival, which is to begin on December 4, will take place across 18 other venues in the capital city. This includes the lawns of the Lodhi Gardens, the Qutub Minar complex, the Agrasen ki Baoli, the Red Fort and the Safdarjung Tomb, as well as other galleries, embassy precincts and private cultural venues.

Also Read | Jantar Mantar: From the science of the stars to the politics of dissent

The ministry’s own exhibition is expected to be held at the 16th-century Purana Qila, which will serve as the hub of the Biennale.

Participants include architecture and design firms as well as public and private art and cultural institutions such as the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, the JSW Foundation, and DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery).

“We should make our monuments into live cultural spaces and open them up so that [visitors] can not only enjoy history but also get a glimpse of the contemporary art scene of India,” Vivek Aggarwal, secretary, ministry of culture, told HT last month. “The whole of Delhi will be a stage.”

The development follows the October 11 denotification of a stretch of Jantar Mantar Road as a designated protest site, against the backdrop of a series of major agitations against the Union government this year.

Police also identified three alternatives – Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground in north Delhi and CBD Ground in east Delhi as alternative protest venues.

The move also aligned with October 9 observations from a Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, advocating for larger, better-equipped sites to balance public safety and the right to protest.