UNESCO declares World Heritage Site in South Mumbai

The heritage site is actually a bunch of 19th century Victorian, and 20th century Art Deco buildings and structures.

The Victorian buildings include public buildings like the High Court, Mumbai University, Old Secretariat, Elphinstone College, Western Railway Headquarters etc.

Meanwhile, the Art Deco buildings include the first row of the Backbay Reclamation Scheme, the Cricket Club of India, Ram Mahal, etc.

The collection of buildings are significant not only for their artistic and architectural value, but also for their historical value and their role in shaping Mumbai from a small coastal fortification to a major trading center of the British empire.

Adding value to the buildings is the fact that they're not dead historical structures, but active public buildings.

The declaration of the buildings as a World Heritage Site comes after significant efforts from conservation activist Abha Narain Lambah who painstakingly, over 14 years, put together a three-volume nomination dossier and management plan, including 1,500 pages of historical narratives, maps, drawings, and notes on each of the 94 buildings in the site.

The declaration gives Mumbai a unique status in India.