UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India

India – Monuments & National Park

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IntroductionThe world heritage sites in India recognized by the

UNESCO are 29, as of 2012.These are places of importance of cultural or natural

heritage as described in the UNESCO world heritage convention, established in 1972.

India’s first two sites inscribed on the list at the world heritage held in 1983 were the Agra and the Ajanta caves.

Over the years, 27 more sites have been inscribed, the latest site inscribed in 2012 being the Western Ghats (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala).

Of these 29 sites, 23 are cultural sites and the other 6 are natural sites.

A tentative list of further sites/properties submitted by India for recognition includes 30 sites

List of Indian Heritage SitesIn India, there are 23 heritage sites and 5 natural sites

1.Agra Fort2.Ajanta Caves3.Ellora Caves4.Taj Mahal5.Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram6.Sun Temple, Konârak7.Kaziranga National Park8.Keoladeo National Park9.Manas Wildlife Sanctuary10.Churches and Convents of Goa11.Fatehpur Sikri12.Group of Monuments at Hampi13.Khajuraho Group of Monuments14.Elephanta Caves15.Great Living Chola Temples16.Group of Monuments at Pattadakal

17.Sundarbans National Park18.Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks19.Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi20.Humayun's Tomb, Delhi21.Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi22.Mountain Railways of India23.Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya24.Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka25.Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park26.Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus27.Red Fort Complex28.The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur

Agra Fort, is a monument, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The fort can be more accurately described as a walled city.

The Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE.

On a hill overlooking the plain and about 40 km from Bhopal, the site of Sanchi comprises a group of Buddhist monuments and all in different states of conservation most of which date back to the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C. It is the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence and was a major Buddhist Centre in India until the 12th century A.D.

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in Panchmahal district in Gujarat, India. It is located around the historical city of Champaner, a city which was built by Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat.

The Elephanta Caves are a network of sculpted caves located on Elephanta Island, or Gharapuri in Mumbai Harbour, 10 kilometers to the east of the city of Mumbai in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is a historic railway station in the city of Mumbai, India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name used to be Victoria Terminus.[1] The station is also called VT or CST . The station was built in 1887. It was designed by Frederick William Stevens.

Old Goa or Velha Goa is a historical city in North Goa district in the Indian state of Goa. The city was constructed by the Bijapur Sultanate in the 15th century, and served as capital of Portuguese India

Ellora is an archaeological site, 29 km North-West of the city of Aurangabad in the Indian state of Maharashtra built by the Rashtrakuta dynasty. It is also known as Elapura.

The austere, grandiose site of Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces which won the admiration of travelers between the 14th and 16th centuries. Conquered by the Deccan Muslim in 1565

The Great Living Chola Temples are temples built during the Chola rule in the south of India. These temples are the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, the Temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram.

Group of monuments at Mahabalipuram is a monument complex on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is located near Chennai.

Humayun's tomb is the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Delhi, India. The tomb was commissioned by Humayun's first wife Bega Begum in 1569-70

Pattadakal, in Karnataka, represents the high point of an eclectic art which, in the 7th and 8th centuries under the Chalukya dynasty, achieved a harmonious blend of architectural forms from northern and southern India

Kaziranga National Park is a national park in the Golaghat and Nagaon districts of the state of Assam, India. A World Heritage Site, the park hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses.

The Jantar Mantar is located in the modern city of New Delhi. It consists of 13 architectural astronomy instruments

The Mahabodhi Temple Complex is one of the four holy sites related to the life of the Lord Buddha, and particularly to the attainment of Enlightenment.

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments in Khajuraho, a town in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 620 kilometres southeast of New Delhi, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India.

The Keoladeo National Park or Keoladeo Ghana National Park formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India is a famous avifauna sanctuary that plays host to thousands of birds especially during the summer season.

Manas National Park or Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is a National Park, UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, a Project Tiger Reserve, an Elephant Reserve and a Biosphere Reserve in Assam, India.

The Red Fort is a large fort complex located in Delhi currently controlled by the Indian Army. Every year on 15 August, the Prime Minister hoists the national flag at the Red Fort

The construction of the Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a 46-km long meter-gauge single-track railway in Tamil Nadu State was first proposed in 1854, but due to the difficulty of the mountainous location the work only started in 1891 and was completed in 1908.

Nestled high in West Himalaya, India’s Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty.

The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site of the Paleolithic, exhibiting the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent, and thus the beginning of the South Asian Stone Age.

The Western Ghats or the Sahyādri constitute a mountain range along the western side of India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity in the world.

The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The Sundarbans National Park is a National Park, Tiger Reserve, and a Biosphere Reserve in the Sundarbans delta. It is in the Indian state of West Bengal. This area is densely covered by mangrove forests. It is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger.

Konark Sun Temple is a 13th century Sun Temple, at Konark, in Odisha, India. It was supposedly built by king Narasimhadeav I of Eastern Ganga Dynasty around 1250.

Fatehpur Sikri“The City of Victory," was built during the second half of the 16th

century by the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605). • It was the capital of the Empire and seat of the grand Mughal

court, but only for 14 years. • Despite bearing exceptional testimony to the Mughal civilization

at the end of the 16th century, it had to be abandoned due to the twin reasons of lack of water and unrest in north-west India, leading the Emperor to shift the capital to Lahore.

• Akbar decided to construct it in 1571, on the same site where the birth of his son, the future Emperor Jahangir, was predicted by the wise saint Shaikh Salim Chisti(1480-1572).

• .

• The work, supervised by the great Mughal himself, was completed in 1573. •The complex of monuments and temples, all uniformly in Mughal architectural style, includes one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid, the Buland Darwaza, the Panch Mahal, and the Tomb of Salim Chishti. •The English traveller Ralph Fitch considered the city in 1585 as 'considerably larger than London and more populous.' •Its form and layout strongly influenced the evolution of Indian town planning, notably at Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi).