Here are the recently added monuments in the UNESCO World Heritage List!

On Tuesday, UNESCO added an ancient Harappa City, Dholavira, located in Gujarat to the World Heritage list. This World Heritage site becomes the second Indian site to be added to the World Heritage list this year. The first Indian site that was added this year to the World Heritage list by UNESCO was the Ramappa Temple located in Telangana. 

The special features of Dholavira, which UNESCO added to the World Heritage list, were the water management systems, multilayered defensive mechanism, extensive use of stone in construction, special burial structures, etc. Surely, these all features make the World Heritage site different from all other sites. Another important thing about Dholavira is that it is one of the most well preserved urban settlements which is dated from the 3rd to mid 2nd millennium BCE. Well, the preserved inscriptions of India have definitely made India proud as now India has entered the Super 40 Club for World Heritage inscriptions. 

On the other hand, UNESCO also added Kakatiya Rudreshwara, the Ramappa temple located in Telangana, to the World Heritage list. 

According to the UN agency, the world heritage sites of India offer a great insight into the knowledge and the ways of life of earlier societies, customs, and communications. As these amazing monuments are added to the World Heritage list this year, let’s have a look at the specialty of these world heritage sites. 

Dholavira, Gujarat:

Dholavira is one of the most well preserved urban settlements that dated from the third to mid-second millennium BCE. It has some special features like a water management system, defensive mechanism, etc, that make it different from any other cultural site. One more thing to note is that there were various kinds of arts found along with the city such as artifacts of copper, shell, stone, jewelry made up of semi-precious stones, Terracotta, gold, ivory, etc. This makes the monument even more precious and worthy to add to the World Heritage list.

Ramappa Temple, Telangana:

Kakatiya Rudreshwara also known as Ramappa Temple is situated in Palampet, a village in Telangana. Kakatiya Rudreshwara is actually the main Lord Shiva temple which is built in a walled complex. This temple was built in the Kakatiyan period, that is from 1123-1323 CE. The World Heritage site is situated near Ramappa Cheruvu, which is a water reservoir built in the Kakatiyan period. And because of this, the surrounding is full of nature and forest areas and also agricultural lands. The special feature of Ramappa Temple is that the women of the temple are made up of floating bricks which are actually lightweight porous bricks that help to reduce the weight of the roof structures. Another important thing to be noted is that the building features some decorated beams and the sculptures of the temple illustrate the dance customs of the Kakatiyan culture.

UNESCO has already added 40 sites from India to their World Heritage list. Some of the famous sites are Taj Mahal, Khajuraho, Ajanta and Ellora caves, Chola temple in Tamilnadu, Fatehpur Sikri, Kanchenjunga National park in Sikkim, Pink City of Jaipur Elephanta caves, Mahabalipuram monuments, Sun temple of Konark, Bodh Gaya in Bihar, etc.