Riyadh: India's Santiniketan and Tell es-Sultan of Palestine have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage sites list along with half a dozen other sites in Iran, Ethiopia, Cambodial, Mongolia, and also Tajikistan-Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan Silk Roads.
New inscriptions to UNESCO World Heritage List started on Saturday 16th September, and was released at the Extended 45th Session of the World Heritage Committee is taking place in Saudi capital Riyadh from the 10 to 25 of September, 2023.
Besides Shantiniketan and Tell es-Sultan other historic sites included in UNESCO World Heritage Sites List 2023 are Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Hyrcanian Forests in Azerbaijan and Iran, The Gedeo Cultural Landscape in Ethiopia, Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba in Benin, Togo, Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar in Cambodia, Deer Stone Monuments and Related Sites of Bronze Age in Mongolia, Gaya Tumuli in Republic of Korea and Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er in China.
Shantiniketan where Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore used to live is located in the neighbourhood of Bolpur Town in the Bolpur Subdivision of Birbhum District in West Bengal - approximately 152 km north of Kolkata, in India.
Santinekatan was originally established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore. It was later expanded by his son, Rabindranath Tagore, whose vision became what is now a university town with the creation of Visva-Bharati.
Tagore later converted Santiniketan into a residential school and centre for Art based on ancient Indian traditions and a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries.
A ‘world university’ was established at Santiniketan in 1921, recognising the unity of humanity or “Visva Bharati”.
Distinct from the prevailing British colonial architectural orientations of the early 20th century and of European modernism, Santiniketan represents approaches toward a pan-Asian modernity, drawing on ancient, medieval and folk traditions from across the region.
Located in the Jordan Valley in Ancient Jericho, Palestine, Tell es-Sultan, is an oval-shaped tell, or mound, that contains the prehistorical deposits of human activity, and includes the adjacent perennial spring of "Ain es-Sultan".
A permanent settlement had emerged here by the 9th to 8th millennium BC, due to the fertile soil of the oasis and easy access to water.
Skulls and statues found on the site testify to cultic practices amongst the Neolithic populations living there, and the Early Bronze Age archaeological material shows signs of urban planning.
Vestiges from the Middle Bronze Age reveal the presence of a large Canaanite city-state occupied by a socially complex population.
The Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor is a key section of the Silk Roads in Central Asia that connects other corridors from all directions.
Located in rugged mountains, fertile river valleys, and uninhabitable desert, the 866-kilometre corridor runs from east to west along the Zarafshan River and further southwest following the ancient caravan roads crossing the Karakum Desert to the Merv Oasis.
Channelling much of the east-west exchange along the Silk Roads from the 2nd century BCE to the 16th century CE, a large quantity of goods was traded along the corridor.
People travelled, settled, conquered, or were defeated here, making it a melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, religions, sciences, and technologies.
[With inputs from UNESCO website.]
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