The World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in its 37^th Session has approved for inscribing 6 hill forts of Rajasthan on the World Heritage List.  The 6 forts are as follows:

          The Hill Forts of Rajasthan is a serial nomination consisting of six sites located on rocky outcrops of the Aravalli mountain range. They represent Rajput military hill architecture, which are exceptional examples of centres of Rajput power and control, are reflections of courtly culture and patronage of arts and music, their mercantile business, etc. The structural remains/ruins range from 8^th to 19^th century A.D. and comprises multi-gated approaches through massive and high fortification walls, palaces, temples, memorials and water reservoirs.  The extensive fortifications – up to 20 kilometres in circumference – exploit the contours of the hills, and specifically the river at Gagron, the dense forest at Ranthambhore, and the desert at Jaisalmer.

          The nomination dossier on Hill Forts of Rajasthan comprising five forts namely Chittaurgarh Fort, Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranthambhore Fort, Amber Fort and Gagron Fort was prepared by State Government of Rajasthan and was sent to World Heritage Centre in January, 2011. Later, a two member ICOMOS Advisory Mission consisting of Mrs. Susan Denyor and Dr. Giles Tillotson visited Jaipur on 23^rd November, 2012 and held a meeting with ASI and State Government of Rajasthan officials.In terms of categories of cultural property set out in Article 1 of the 1972 World Heritage Convention, this is a serial nomination of six sites.

          In addition to above the proposal of India relating to ‘Great Himalayan National Park’ for inscription on the World Heritage list under ‘Natural’ category has also been upgraded from ‘Deferral’ to ‘Referral’ which means that its outstanding universal value has been accepted by the Advisory Body of World Heritage Committee.  This could be achieved after a great detail of deliberations during the current WHC session. 

          The Hill Forts of Rajasthan is the first inscription on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list after Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch took over as the Minister of Culture in late 2012, who took keen interest in the inscription of the properties on the World Heritage List.

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