Postcard: Dr Iain Jackson in India

Gathering stones from riverbeds surrounding the Indian city of Chandigarh in 1958, Nek Chand, a local road inspector, began to build what is now the country's second most popular tourist destination after the Taj Mahal. University lecturer and architect, Dr Iain Jackson , is the first to document Nek Chand's creation - a 25 acre rock garden containing several thousand sculptures, mosaic courtyards, walled paths, deep gorges and interlinking waterfalls. Le Corbusier Chandigarh was commissioned following India's independence in 1947 and was designed as a modern city by world famous architect, Le Corbusier and his team including Jane Drew and Edwin Maxwell Fry - a University of Liverpool graduate. From the remains of the 26 villages that were destroyed to make way for the city, Nek Chand salvaged objects such as ceramics, light bulbs and broken bangles, to construct sculptures at the edge of the jungle that surrounded the new city. Dr Iain Jackson said: "The garden Nek Chand created is a remarkable achievement and captures the culture and heritage of an area that would have been lost to future generations had he not dedicated his life to saving it in such an engaging and fascinating way. "We catalogued all the sculptures on display and produced an architectural survey of the site. More than 10 architects, including students, from the University's School of Architecture assisted in the survey and were given accommodation in the garden's 'secret apartment', which Nek Chand had built behind a waterfall." The research included virtual reality models and films conveying the spatial qualities of the garden.