Earlier in July this year, the archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) in Bihar, the architectural work of le Corbusier at Chandigarh and the Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim were declared as World Heritage Sites at the 40th session of the UNESCO world heritage committee. The UNESCO Category 2 Centre at the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun will hold an event in the national capital on August 4 to commemorate the new inscriptions. The director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Paris, Dr Mechtild Rossler will be the guest of honour on the occasion.
According to information provided by the Dehradun-based centre at WII, the 40th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was organised in Istanbul in Turkey under the chairmanship of Turkey from July 10 to 17. The committee examined proposals of 27 sites based on their Outstanding Universal Values (OUVs) for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Twenty one new sites representing 28 State Parties were inscribed on the World Heritage list comprising 12 Cultural, six Natural and three Mixed Heritage Sites. Of the three sites from India, the Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) at Nalanda, Bihar was designated as a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria of the World Heritage Convention. Nalanda comprises archaeological remains of a monastic and scholastic institution considered to be an outstanding example of architectural work which illustrates significant stages in human history.
The Architectural Work of le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement was designated as a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria of the World Heritage Convention. Chosen from the work of le Corbusier, the 17 sites, including the Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh, comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. The third site, Khangchendzonga National Park in Sikkim was inscribed as India’s first Mixed World Heritage Site under both cultural and natural criteria of the World Heritage Convention. The site includes a unique diversity of plains, valleys, lakes, glaciers and spectacular, snow-capped mountains covered with ancient forests, including the world’s third highest peak, Mount Khangchendzonga.