World Heritage Convention & Heritage Sites
Qutub Minar (New Delhi, India)
One of the most popular conventions of UNESCO, the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage provides an effective guideline for the Member States to develop and implement policy framework for conservation of heritage properties. Since the inception of the Convention, the definition of heritage has expanded from that of monument and archaeological site to include living cities and cultural landscape. In this new context, heritage management is no more an isolated discipline of just restoring and conserving physical buildings but it is part of urban regeneration. It is no more about preserving the past but to manage the changes to respond to the need of the cities to evolve.
UNESCO New Delhi office, through its network of heritage experts, provides technical support to the State parties to the Convention to meet this complex challenge of heritage preservation.
The World Heritage Convention in South-Asia :
- India ratified the Convention in 1977. It has 37 World Heritage properties in the World Heritage List, of which 29 are cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed (both cultural and natural). It also has 42 properties in the Tentative List. The country was a member of the World Heritage Committee on three occasions: 1985-1991, 2001-2007 and 2011-2015.
- Bhutan is Member State to the Convention since 2001. It has 8 properties in the Tentative List.
- Sri Lanka ratified the Convention in 1980 and has 8 properties (6 cultural and 2 natural) in the World Heritage List and 2 properties in the Tentative List. The country was a member of the World Heritage Committee between 1983 and 1989.
- Maldives ratified the Convention in 1986 and has 1 property in the Tentative List.
(Data as of December 2018)
News on our Activities
- 17.08.15 - Bhutan 2015: Workshop and Forum on the Cultural Landscape and Sustaining its Significance
- 17.06.15 - UNESCO and Ministry of Railways collaborate for renewal of Bandra heritage railway station
- 30.04.15 - UNESCO to assess the impact on Nepal’s cultural heritage of the devastating earthquake
- 15.04.15 - Two projects in India awarded UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation 2014
- 24.09.14 - Sub-regional workshop on Asia Silk Road
- 30.08.14 - ICOMOS mission to Maldives to review the progress of WH nomination
- 20.08.14 - International competition on Cultural Landscape
- 15.06.14 - Congratulations to India for her two new World Heritage nominations!
- 09.04.14 - UNESCO joins hands with Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation to promote the living heritage of Udaipur
- 15.03.14 - Discovering Heritage through a game: UNESCO New Delhi Culture Sector partners with GoUNESCO
- 26.11.13 - International Seminar on “Cultural Heritage and Peace Education”
- 12.10.12 - Legal Protection of Bhutanese Heritage : Government of Bhutan, Kyushu University and UNESCO New Delhi sign a Tri-Party Framework of Cooperation for Legal Protection of Bhutanese Heritage
- 01.10.12 - One Step Forward: A Consultative Workshop for Category 2 Centre in India
Publications
- Indian Heritage Passport Programme: on the merchants trail in Shekhawati, Rajasthan; a concept paper
Related Links