West Bengal: Santiniketan Recommended For Inclusion In UNESCO World Heritage List

Santiniketan in West Bengal, the place where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore spent much of his life and built 'Visva-Bharati' has been recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

"Great news for India on the Jayanti of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan, West Bengal has been recommended for inscription to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body to UNESCO World Heritage Centre", Union Culture and Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy has said in a tweet.

If Santiniketan’s nomination is accepted, it will become India’s 41st world heritage site.

This will be formally announced in the World Heritage Committee meeting to be held at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September 2023, said Reddy.

With Santiniketan set to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a decade-long campaign to get Rabindranath Tagore's “abode of peace” in the prestigious global map seems to finally pay off.

The development, described as a proud moment for India, has assumed more significance since it is coming on the birth anniversary of Gurudev (Rabindranath Tagore) which is on 9 May.

Santiniketan, over 160 km from Kolkata, was originally an ashram built by Tagore's father Debendranath Tagore, where anyone, irrespective of caste and creed, could come to meditate, according to a description of the place on the official website of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

India has a total of 40 sites which enjoy the UNESCO World Heritage tag. These include 32 cultural sites such as Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, Harappan-era site in Dholavira, Elephanta Caves, Red Fort complex in Delhi, and Mahabodhi Temple complex in Bodh Gaya in Bihar among others.

Visva Bharati has degree courses in humanities, social science, science, fine arts, music, performing arts, education, agricultural science and rural reconstruction.

France-based ICOMOS is an international non-governmental organisation that comprises professionals, experts, and representatives from local authorities, companies and heritage organisations and is dedicated to the conservation and enhancement of architectural and landscape heritage around the world.