Santiniketan in West Bengals Birbhum district has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is the place where Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago. He established this site in 1901 and was a residential school and centre for art based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries.The world body made the announcement in a post on X on Sunday.“BREAKING! New inscription on the @UNESCO #WorldHeritage List: Santiniketan, #India. Congratulations!” the UNESCOs post read.🔴BREAKING!New inscription on the @UNESCO #WorldHeritage List: Santiniketan, #India 🇮🇳. Congratulations! 👏👏 ➡️ https://t.co/69Xvi4BtYv #45WHC pic.twitter.com/6RAVmNGXXq— UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 (@UNESCO) September 17, 2023 India had been trying to get this site included in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites for a long time and a few months ago international advisory body ICOMOS recommended the inclusion of Santaniketan to be given a UNESCO tag, as per media reports.The decision to include Santiniketan in the list was taken during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee currently underway in Saudi Arabia.Santaniketan gets UNESCO tag, check reactions Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to his X(Twitter) handle to express his delight at the news and called it a “proud moment for all Indians.” He wrote “Delighted that Santiniketan, an embodiment of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagores vision and Indias rich cultural heritage, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is a proud moment for all Indians.”Delighted that Santiniketan, an embodiment of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagores vision and Indias rich cultural heritage, has been inscribed on the @UNESCO World Heritage List. This is a proud moment for all Indians. https://t.co/Um0UUACsnk— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 17, 2023 As Modi celebrates his 73rd birthday today, Cultutre Minister G Kishan Reddy said that there could not be a better gift for Modi.“The listing Congratulations. Santiniketan in West Bengal has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This is Indias 41st World Heritage site and India stands 6th on the World Heritage List. No better gift on the 73rd Birthday of Honble Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Honble PM is the chancellor of the Visva Bharati and it is under his dynamic leadership that the Ministry of Culture is committed to the global recognition of our monuments, sites, and places that showcase our rich history and culture,” Kishan Reddy posted on X.Congratulations 🇮🇳Santiniketan in West Bengal has been declared a World Heritage Site by @UNESCO This is Indias 41st World Heritage site and India stands 6th on the World Heritage List. No better gift on the 73rd Birthday of Honble Prime Minister, Shri @narendramodi.… pic.twitter.com/5Qjvbzppdf— G Kishan Reddy (@kishanreddybjp) September 17, 2023 Bengal Chief Minister, Mamta Banerjee also expressed her delight at the inclusion of Santiniketan on the World Heritage site on the social media platform X.She said “ Biswa Banglas pride, Santiniketan was nurtured by the poet and has been supported by people of Bengal over the generations. We from the Government of West Bengal have significantly added to its infrastructure in last 12 years and the world now recognizes the glory of the heritage place. Kudos to all who love Bengal, Tagore, and his messages of fraternity. Jai Bangla, Pranam to Gurudev.”Glad and proud that our Santiniketan, the town of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, is now finally included in UNESCOs World Heritage List. Biswa Banglas pride, Santiniketan was nurtured by the poet and has been supported by people of Bengal over the generations. We from the…— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) September 17, 2023 Mumbai-based Abha Narain Lambah, a noted conservation architect, who had worked on getting the UNESCO tag for Santaniketan said she was dancing with joy after hearing the news.“We had worked on the dossier in 2009 and, maybe time wasnt right then, but we always believed in the beauty of Santiniketan, and today we feel vindicated seeing it in the UNESCO list,” she told PTI.What other sites made way to this listAccording to media reports, the Extended 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee is taking place in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) from 10 to 25 September.Apart from Santiniketan, UNESCO also included Palestines Ancient Jericho, Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor, Azerbaijans Hyrcanian Forests, Ethiopias Gedeo Cultural landscape, Benins Koutammakou, Cambodias Koh Ker, Mangolias Deer Stone monuments and related bronze age sites.The list further includes South Koreas Gaya Tumuli, Chinas cultural landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai mountain in Puer, Irans Persian Caravanserai, Canadas Trondëk-Klondike, Denmarks Viking-Age Ring Fortresses, Germanys Jewish-Medieval Heritage of Erfurt, and Latvias Old town of Kuldīga.
