Santiniketan Inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List

Santiniketan, located near the town of Bolpur, in the Birbhum district of West Bengal, is known worldwide for its university called the Visva Bharati. The university was established in 1921 by the Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. On September 17, 2023, Tagore’s world university was inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage list. Santiniketan became India’s 41st Unesco World Heritage Site, and the 5th in Bengal. 

The first attempt to include Santiniketan in the World Heritage Sites list was made by the Indian government in 2010. In 2021, a second attempt was made by the Archaeological Survey of India with the help of the Visva Bharati authorities. Finally, in 2023, the campaign reached its goal. 

The 45th session of the World Heritage Committee is currently being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It commenced on September 10th and will end on the 25th. During this session, the members of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) made the collective decision to include Santiniketan in the Unesco World Heritage list. 

Santiniketan was originally just an empty plot of land bought by Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore, in 1863. The former built a guest house there, which he named Shantiniketan, meaning “abode of peace” in Sanskrit. Rabindranath Tagore was 17 years old when he first visited Santiniketan. In 1901, at the age of 40, Tagore built a Brahmacharyaashrama there called Patha Bhavana. In 1921, he started Visva Bharati, a central university dedicated to literature, music, painting and art. Today, the university holds national importance.