Santiniketan Added to UNESCO World Heritage List

September 18, 2023

GS Paper I Art and Culture

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.

About UNESCO’s World Heritage List:

World Heritage site, any of various areas or objects inscribed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List.
The sites are designated as having “outstanding universal value” under the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
This document was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and formally took effect in 1975 after having been ratified by 20 countries.
It provides a framework for international cooperation in preserving and protecting cultural treasures and natural areas throughout the world.

News Source: The Indian Express