"Glad and proud": Mamata Banerjee on Santiniketan in UNESCO's World Heritage List
Sep 17, 2023
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], September 17 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed pride on Sunday that West Bengal's Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore's town has been included in UNESCO's World Heritage List.
"Glad and proud that our Santiniketan, the town of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, is now finally included in UNESCO's World Heritage List. Biswa Bangla's pride, Santiniketan was nurtured by the poet and has been supported by people of Bengal over the generations," Mamata Banerjee said in a post on 'X'.
The West Bengal Chief Minister said that her government has "significantly added to its infrastructure" in the last 12 years it has been in power in the state.
"We from the Government of West Bengal have significantly added to its infrastructure in last 12 years and the world now recognizes the glory of the heritage place. Kudos to all who love Bengal, Tagore, and his messages of fraternity. Jai Bangla, Pranam to Gurudev," Mamata added in her tweet.
"#Santiniketan, West Bengal now inscribed on the #WorldHeritage List!! Established in rural West Bengal in 1901, Santiniketan was founded by Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned poet and philosopher. It is now India's 41st #WorldHeritageSite," UNESCO India said in a post on 'X'.
On Santiniketan being inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Shashi Panja said, "Today is a proud moment for Bengal. It's a proud moment for India..."
Santiniketan is an ensemble of historic buildings, landscapes and gardens, pavilions, artworks, and continuing educational and cultural traditions that together express its Outstanding Universal Value, UNESCO said in a release.
"Established in rural West Bengal in 1901, Santiniketan was founded by Rabindranath Tagore, a renowned poet and philosopher. The built and open spaces of Santiniketan constitute an exceptional global testimony to ideas of environmental art and educational reform where progressive education and visual art are intertwined with architecture and landscape, with the Ashram, Uttarayan, and Kala-Bhavana areas forming the prime sites of these practices," it added.
Santiniketan is also directly and tangibly associated with the ideas, works and vision of Rabindranath Tagore and his associates, pioneers of the Bengal School of Art and early Indian Modernism, the release mentioned.
Union Minister for Culture and Tourism G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday informed that the Shantiniketan in West Bengal's Birbhum district has been recommended for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list by The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).
In this regard, he took to 'X' and said, "Great news for India on the Jayanti of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Santiniketan, West Bengal has been recommended for inscription to the World Heritage List by ICOMOS, the advisory body to UNESCO World Heritage Centre".
Shantiniketan is a town in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. Visva Bharati University lies in Shantiniketan. The place now attracts thousands of visitors each year.
