UNESCO's World Heritage sites

Criteria for Selection

• The nominated sites must be of “outstanding universal value” and should meet at least one of the ten mentioned criteria listed below.

Criteria for Cultural Sites

• Represents a masterpiece of human creative genius.
• Exhibits an important interchange of human values over a span of time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental art, town planning or landscape design.
• Bears a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilisation that is living or which has disappeared.
• An outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history.
• An outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use or sea-use which is representative of a culture or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.
• It is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.

Criteria for Natural Sites

• Contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.
• An outstanding example representing major stages of the Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant ongoing geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.
• An outstanding example represents the significance of ongoing ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, and communities of plants and animals.
• Contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal values from the point of view of science or conservation.

Legal Status of Designated Sites

• Once a site is declared as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, it is accepted as prima facie evidence that such a site is culturally sensitive and warrants legal protection pursuant to the Law of War under the Geneva Convention.
• Its Articles, Protocols and Customs, together with the other treaties including The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the International Law.
• Article 53 of the Geneva Convention promulgates:

Protection of Cultural Objects and Places of Worship:

• Without prejudice to the provisions of the ‘Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954’ and of other relevant international instruments, it is prohibited:
• to commit any act of hostility directed against the historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or the spiritual heritage of people.
• to use such objects in support of the military effort.
• to make such objects - the object of reprisals.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India

• Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra)
• Taj Mahal (Uttar Pradesh)
• Ellora Caves (Maharashtra)
• Agra Fort (Uttar Pradesh)
• Sun Temple, Konark (Odisha)
• Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu (Pancha Ratha, Shore Temple, Arjuna’s Penance or Descent of the Ganges, Caves Temples, etc.).
• Churches and Convents of Goa
• Khajuraho Group of Monuments (Madhya Pradesh) (Group of Hindu and Jain Temples which include Kandariya Mahadev Temple, Vishvanatha Temple, Lakshmana Temple, Chausath Yogini Temple, etc. of Hindu Origin and Parshvanatha, Adinath and Shantinatha Temples, etc. of Jain Origin)
• Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh)
• Group of Monuments at Hampi, Karnataka (Virupaksha Temple, Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Hemakuta Group of Temples, Achyutaraya Temple Complex, Vittala Temple Complex, Hazara Rama Temple, Lotus Mahal, etc.)
• Elephanta Caves (Maharashtra)
• Group of Monuments at Pattadakal (Karnataka) (Nine Hindu Temples and one Jain Temple which includes Virupaksha Temple, Papanatha Temple, etc.)
• Great Chola Temples [Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur (Tamil Nadu), Airavatesvara Temple, Darasuram (Tamil Nadu)]
• Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh (Great Stupa, Ashokan Pillar, Shunga Pillar, Siri Satakarni inscriptions of Satavahana period, various other Stupas, etc.)
• Humayun’s Tomb (Delhi)
• Qutub Minar and its monuments (Delhi)
• Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (West Bengal) (Under Mountain Railways of India)
• Mahabodhi Temple Complex, Bodh Gaya (Bihar)
• Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh)
• Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or Victoria Terminus, Mumbai (Maharashtra)
• Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park (Gujarat)
• Nilgiri Mountain Railways (Under Mountain Railways of India)
• Red Fort Complex (Delhi)
• Kalka-Shimla Railway (Himachal Pradesh) (Under Mountain Railways of India)
• Jantar Mantar, Jaipur (Rajasthan) (not the one situated in Delhi)
• Six hill forts of Rajasthan
• Chittorgarh
• Ranthambhore
• Kumbhalgarh
• Amber
• Jaisalmer
• Gagron
• Rani Ki Vav (The Queen’s Stepwell), Gujarat
• The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier (Capital Complex, Chandigarh)
• Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University), (Bihar)
• Historic City of Ahmedabad
• Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai
• Jaipur City, Rajasthan (in July).

Natural Sites

• Manas Wildlife Sanctuary (Assam), 1985.
• Kaziranga National Park (Assam), 1985.
• Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur (Rajasthan), 1985.
• Sundarban National Park (West Bengal), 1987.
• Nanda Devi National Park, 1988 and Valley of Flowers (Uttarakhand), 2005.
• Western Ghats, 2012 (Sub-clusters include Agasthyamalai, Periyar, Anamalai, Nilgiri, Talakaveri, Kudremukh and Sahyadri).
• Great Himalayan National Park (Himachal Pradesh), 2014.
• Khangchendzonga National Park (Sikkim), 2016.
• Khangchendzonga National Park is the only Indian site under the mixed category.