Chandigarh Capitol Complex has been awarded the status of World Heritage Site by UNESCO, making it one of the biggest and happiest news for Chandigarh in the city’s history. Known as The City Beautiful, Chandigarh now ranks in the list of top sites of the world which have been declared as WORLD HERITAGE by UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).
Chandigarh among UNESCO World Heritage Sites – The Announcement
The 40th session of the World Heritage Conference is currently taking place at Istanbul, in Turkey. It was on Sunday, 17th July that UNESCO inscribed the name of Chandigarh as a city of World Heritage. The capitol complex which is located in Sector 1, Chandigarh was included in the list of world heritage sites by UNESCO. The news came out as an Indian representative who is currently attending the conference tweeted about Chandigarh getting the UNESCO world status in the afternoon. Here’s the tweet:
Proud 2 convey from #Istanbul that UNESCO has just inscribed CapitolComplex of #Chandigarh as #WorldHeritage #india pic.twitter.com/KCTJjrtHU9
— Ruchira Kamboj (@RuchiraKamboj) July 17, 2016
The tweet brought cheers to India as the country got another world heritage site in the name of its most beautiful city – Chandigarh.
What UNESCO World Heritage Status Means for Chandigarh
There’s no doubt in the fact that Chandigarh is one of the most beautiful and livable city in India. Few months back, BBC named Chandigarh as the perfect city in entire World. Chandigarh also tops the list of cleanest, happiest and greenest cities of India. But despite all this fame, Chandigarh as a city lacked tourism inflow. The World Heritage Status by UNESCO has literally brought Chandigarh on the World Map. UNESCO world heritage sites are a hit among international tourists and now Chandigarh getting the status will ensure millions of foreign tourists coming to our city beautiful every year.
Although there are a lot of World Heritage Sites in the world but now Chandigarh will be a prominent city among these. If we talk about India then the country has about 30 world heritage sites that include cultural sites such as Agra’s Taj Mahal, Delhi’s Red Fort, Quitub Minar etc and natural sites like Western Ghats, Ajanta Ellora caves, etc. All these places are well-known in the world and see huge tourist rush. Chandigarh too now has the status of a world heritage site and the city will be more popular in the world than ever before.
Factors that gave UNESCO World Heritage Status to Chandigarh
If you are still in an excited state thinking about Chandigarh getting the world heritage status, you should surely thank Le Corbusier as he is the man who should actually get all the credit for designing such world class buildings in Chandigarh. Chandigarh administration was trying from a long time to get UNESCO world heritage status for Le Corbusier’s work in Chandigarh, but few factors that accelerated the process include:
- France Prime Minister’s tourist visit to Chandigarh. He said that Chandigarh is a very beautiful city & that he was glad to be here.
- Our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi came to Chandigarh for International Yoga Day and organized the entire function from Capitol Complex. This again brought Chandigarh in the eyes of the world and somehow helped the city get UNESCO world heritage status.
Be Proud of Chandigarh | The City Beautiful is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Going forward, whenever you talk to anyone from around the world and you tell them that you are from Chandigarh, do not forget to flaunt Chandigarh’s World Heritage Status. Be proud of your city and join us on Facebook – Chandigarh – My City, My Pride !
Cheers to entire Chandigarh! With Love and Much Pride – Ajay Deep.
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