Three new archaeological sites in India have been included in the UNESCO’s Tentative Lists of world heritage sites this month – Sun Temple, Modhera and its adjoining monuments in Gujarat, Vadnagar – a multi-layered Historic town in Gujarat and Rock-cut Sculptures and Reliefs of the Unakoti, Unakoti Range, Unakoti District in Tripura (Incidentally, the Vadnagar site also happens to be the birth place of PM Modi).
Earlier, in February 2022, three sites of Geoglyphs of Konkan Region, Jingkieng jri: Living Root Bridge Cultural Landscapes in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple and Monolithic Bull (Nandi), Lepakshi (The Vijayanagara Sculpture and Painting Art Tradition) in Anantapuramu District in Andhra Pradesh were included in Tentative lists. Thus, in 2022, six Indian sites were included which makes a total of 52.
A Tentative List is an inventory of those sites which countries intends to consider for nomination for inclusion in World Heritage List.
The member countries submit the list of properties which they consider to be cultural and/or natural heritage of outstanding universal value and therefore suitable for inscription on the World Heritage List.
Currently, 40 Indian sites are in World Heritage List.
Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, in Telangana was last Indian site inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2021.
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