New Delhi: Hoysala Temples of Belur, Halebid, and Somnathapura of Karnataka have been selected for India's nomination for consideration as World Heritage for the year 2022-2023.
The 'Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala' are on UNESCO's Tentative List since 15th April 2014 and address perhaps the most noteworthy place of human innovative genius and stand declaration to the rich historical and cultural heritage of our country.
The first step of the process is to submit the dossier to the world heritage centre which will do the technical scrutiny of the same.
In the interim, Vishal V Sharma, Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO officially presented the nomination to UNESCO, Director of World Heritage, Mr. Lazare Eloundou today.
V Sharma, tweeted, "#India is proud to nominate The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas for @UNESCO's World Heritage List! Art historians recognize the exceptional sculptural artistry of the ensembles to be among the masterpieces of Asian art. @ASIGoI"
UNESCO will communicate back by early March after the submission is made. The site evaluation of the nominated names will take place in September /October 2022 and the dossier will be taken up for consideration in July /August 2023.
Sri G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Culture, Tourism, and Development of Northeastern Region stated, "This is a great moment for India to see the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas temples being submitted for inscription in the World Heritage List".
"The Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is committed to both Vikas and Virasat. Our efforts in protecting our Virasat is evident from the work the government has been putting in inscribing both our tangible and intangible heritage and also repatriating the cultural heritage that was stolen or taken away from India", the Minister added.
However, the conservation and maintenance of Hoysala temples are in hands of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
The sacred ensembles of the Hoysalas, built in the 12th-13th centuries and represented by the three components of Belur, Halebid, and Somnathapura, attest to the imagination and expertise of the Hoysala craftsmen and architects who constructed these magnum opuses of a kind never seen before or since.