UNESCO declares World Heritage Site in South Mumbai
What's the story
Mumbai's Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble has been declared as the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The decision was taken at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee's meeting in Bahrain on Saturday. The heritage site is located in the historic core of South Mumbai - in the Fort Precinct and Marine Drive. Here's more on it.
The site
The heritage site is a bunch of artsy buildings
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.
Value
Why the buildings were chosen as a World Heritage Site
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.
Efforts
The declaration came after significant efforts from Abha Narain Lambah
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.
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Mumbai, Maharashtra lead in terms of UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Mumbai currently has the distinction of having three UNESCO World Heritage Sites - namely, Elephanta Caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, and the Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble. Maharashtra, meanwhile, leads Indian states with five UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Mumbai's three and Ajanta and Ellora Caves.