Santiniketan Added to UNESCO World Heritage List

Context: Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan, the university town in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, has been inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

More on News about Shantiniketan:

• This was announced by the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

• Santiniketan becomes the 41st UNESCO World Heritage Site in India and the third in West Bengal, after the Sundarbans National Park and the Darjeeling Mountain Railways. 
• Last year, the state’s Durga Puja got space in “Intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity” under UNESCO.
• Santiniketan in West Bengal has been recommended for inscription to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body to UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

About Santiniketan:

• Santiniketan, means  “abode of peace” in Bengali, was originally an ashram built by Debendranath Tagore.
• Initially established as a school, known as Brahmachary Ashram.
• Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore later transformed Santiniketan into a university town
• A ‘world university’ was established at Santiniketan in 1921, recognising the unity of humanity or “Visva Bharati”.
• ​​Santiniketan includes the entire Visva-Bharati University Campus, the core ashram area and the Uttarayan complex.
• The core ashram area includes inside Santiniketan: 
  1. Patha Bhavana (the first school set up by Tagore in 1901)
  2. Upasana Griha (prayer hall, locally known as the glass temple)
  3. Kala Bhavana (institute of fine arts)
  4. Sangit Bhavana (institute of music)
  5. Santiniketan Griha (the first house bought by Tagore’s father Debendranath).
  6. The Uttarayan complex includes five houses of Tagore and a museum.

News Source: The Indian Express