Heritage Sites
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites are the important places of cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1945.
The first sites to be inscripted were Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Agra Fort, and Taj Mahal, of which all were inscribed in the 1983 session of the World Heritage Committee. The latest site to be inscribed is Dholavira, Gujarat in 2021. As of July 2021, 19 of the 36 States and union territories of India are home to the World Heritage Sites, with Maharashtra having highest number of sites .
At present, there are 40 World Heritage Sites located in India. Out of these, 32 are cultural, 7 are natural, and 1 is mixed (meeting both cultural and natural criteria), as determined by the organization's selection criteria. India has the sixth largest number of sites in the world.
| Name | Image | Description |
|---|
| Ajanta Caves |  | The Buddhist Caves in Ajanta are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments dating from the 2nd
century BCE to about 480 CE in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India. The caves include paintings and rock-cut
sculptures described as among, the finest surviving examples of ancient Indian art, particularly expressive paintings that present emotions
through gesture, pose and form |
| Ellora Caves |  | Ellora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India. It is one of the largest rock-cut Hindu temple cave complexes in the world, featuring Buddhist and Jain monuments with artwork dating from the period 600–1000 CE. Cave 16 features the largest single monolithic rock excavation in the world, the Kailash temple, a chariot-shaped monument dedicated to Lord Shiva |
| Agra Fort |  | The Agra Fort, also known as the Red Fort of Agra, represents Mughal opulence and power as the center piece of their empire. It was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982, under Category iii as a cultural monument. |
| Taj Mahal |  | The Taj Mahal 'Crown of the Palace', is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself. |
| Konark Sun Temple |  | Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE (year 1250) Sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty about 1250 CE.
Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone. |
| Group of Mouments Mahabalipuram | /shore-temple-640319518-5c27ce2146e0fb0001e9184b.jpg) | The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram is a collection of 7th- and 8th-century CE religious monuments in the coastal resort town of Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) south of Chennai.
The site has 40 ancient monuments and Hindu temples, including one of the largest open-air rock reliefs in the world: the Descent of the Ganges or Arjuna's Penance. The group contains several categories of monuments: ratha temples with monolithic processional chariots, built between 630 and 668; mandapa viharas (cave temples) with narratives from the Mahabharata and Shaivic, Shakti and Vaishna inscriptions |
| Kaziranga National Park |  | Kaziranga, located in the Northeastern state of Assam in the flood plains of the Brahmaputra River's south bank, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 for its unique natural environment. It was first established as a reserved forest in 1908 to protect the dwindling numbers of rhinoceros. |
| Manas Wildlife Sanctuary |  | The Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the northeastern state of Assam covers an area of 50,000 hectares (The sanctuary is the habitat of several species of plants, 21 most-threatened species of mammals (out of 55 mammal species in the sanctuary), 36 reptile species, three amphibians and 350 species of birds. Endangered species include: the tiger, pygmy hog, clouded leopard, sloth bear, Indian rhinoceros, wild buffaloes (the only pure strain of buffalo in India), Indian elephants, golden langur and Bengal florican. |
| Churches and convents of Goa |  | Churches and Convents of Goa is the name given by UNESCO to a set of religious monuments located in Goa Velha (or Old Goa), in the state of Goa, India, which were declared a World Heritage Site in 1986.
Goa was the capital of Portuguese India and Asia and an evangelization center from the sixteenth century. The justification for the inclusion of religious monuments in Goa in the World Heritage List are: 1) the influence of the monuments in the dissemination of Western art forms – the Manueline styles, Mannerist and Baroque – throughout Asia where Catholic missions were established; 2) the value of the set of monuments of Goa as an exceptional example that illustrates the work of evangelization and 3) the specific value of presence in the Basilica of Bom Jesus of the tomb of Francisco Xavier, which illustrates a major world event: the influence of the Catholic religion in Asia in the modern era. |
| Hampi |  | Hampi or Hampe, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in east-central Karnataka, India.[2]
Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, say that Hampi was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets. By 1500 CE, Hampi-Vijayanagara was the world's second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal |