Chennakeshava temple in Belur is 900-years old

The Chennakeshava temple in Belur, situated 220-Km from Benglauru attracts plenty of tourists every year and has turned 900 years old but there is hardly any celebrations to mark the historic occasion. The temple is well known for its Shilabalika sculptures and was constructed in 1117 AD to mark the victory of Gangaraja, a general in Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana's army, over the invading Chola army a year earlier.
More than 10,000 people visit the temple during weekends.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 13 March 2017.

Heritage and tourism buffs are disappointed at the failure of the state government to exploit the occasion and hardsell Belur, Halebidu and Talakadu as the most popular tourist destinations of Karnataka. Belur was the Hoysala capital, while Halebidu, also in Hassan district, is 16-Km away.
Incidentally, the Chennakeshava temple has been proposed for the UNESCO World Heritage status for its 12th century architecture four years ago. Darpana Sundari (Lady with a mirror) which is carved on the walls of Belur temple and the carvings on the pillars are unique.


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Tourists to Darjeeling during the Pujas would get more toy trains

Tourists going to Darjeeling during the pujas can now expect more number of toy trains to choose from. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) plans to introduce three more pairs of joy rides with effect from 10 September apart from introducing a couple of coaches in all of its engines.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 30 August 2016.

By virtue of this augmentation, the strength of Toy trains will rise to nine. At present the DHR has three steam and three diesel engines as of now.
Incidentally, DHR has been serving people for the last 136 years and, hence, decided to add three new rides.
Moreover, Jungle safari ride which used to run for a whole week is now open for twice a week, i.e., on Saturday and Sunday. This safari is being operated with a steam engine unlike diesel engines. The fare of the jungle safari has risen from Rs.500 to Rs.1100. He further informed that a heritage coach and another dining coach will be added for the tourists who want to enjoy assorted facilities during their joy rides. Both the coaches will have exclusive interior and will showcase the heritage of the UNESCO recognized toy trains.
It is estimated that the DHR would attract more than 2 lakh tourists this time around and the railway will add a goods carrier from the month of November to carry the goods and luggage of the visitors. The revival of DHR is an indicator of a boost for Darjeeling tourism and for the heritage ride itself.


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Efforts on by Odisha to get UNESCO Heritage tag for Bhitarkanika national park

A team from the UNESCO World Heritage team would visit the Bhitarkanika national park on October 18 to see if the park can be granted the Heritage tag. If approval is given, it will become Odisha’s second world heritage site after Konarak sun temple.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 19 July 2016.

Earlier a comprehensive bio-diversity dossier of Bhitarkanika national park has been submitted to UNESCO last year itself. The dossier merited positive consideration leading to the forthcoming visit of UNESCO team. The dossier contained among other things wide-ranging ground-level information on bio-diversity, eco-system and local human habitation and socio-economic condition of locals and their dependence on forest produce.
The national park is a bio-diversity treasure-trove and had figured in the list of Ramsar international wetland sites across the globe. Hence, according heritage site tag by UNESCO appears to be a formality. Often described as nature’s gift, Bhitarkanika is enriched with a variety of habitats and climatic conditions which are not found anywhere else in the country.


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UNESCO World Heritage Committee identifies 12 new sites in its 40th session in Istanbul

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has identified 12 new sites for the World Heritage List in its 40th session at Istanbul - the session had to be cut short due to the unrest that erupted in Turkey. With this, the number of sites added in the current session goes up to 21 and this finally adds up to a total of 1,052 sites in 165 countries.
The breakdown of these 21 newly added sites are - 12 cultural sites, six natural and three mixed ones.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 18 July 2016.

The session also discussed the state of conservation of 155 properties - five of these in Libya have been inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger along with one in Uzbekistan and another in Mali. Additionally, one site in Georgia was removed from the list of endangered sites, while the site of Nan Madol, or the Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia, was simultaneously inscribed on the World Heritage List and on the List in Danger.
The 40th session had started on July 10 and was cut short by four days due to the attempted coup in Turkey. The unfinished would be taken up at a separate meeting slated to be held in Paris later. The 41st session is scheduled for July 2017 in Krakow, Poland.


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At last Nalanda University gets the UNESCO World Heritage tag

Nalanda University in Bihar finally gets recognition as UNESCO granted it the coveted World Heritage tag. It took seven-years to get this approval after an initial thumbs down on New Delhi's proposal. UNESCO had first included Nalanda in its tentative list of World Heritage site in the year 2009 and subsequent relentless efforts by the Centre as well as the Bihar government led to the approval.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 16 July 2016.

The approval was granted in the ongoing 40th session of the World Heritage Committee in Istanbul, Turkey. In this session, the Nalanda ruins was included under the "cultural properties" category. It is Bihar's second World Heritage site. The first was the Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodhgaya which was accorded the status on June 27, 2002.
"Nalanda was established in the third century BC as a monastery but it developed as a university by 4th-5th century AD. Even though the European universities had flourished in the medieval period (AD 500 to about 1500), Nalanda had grown to a large institution of learning by the fourth century AD.
Ancient Nalanda university flourished as a university 700-800 years after its establishment as a monastery. As per records, in the 7th century AD, there were around 1,500 students and 1,000 teachers in the university. They came from all across India, China, Tibet, Nepal, Korea and several other Southeast Asian countries. The university had big classrooms, hostels, laboratories and libraries among other facilities and, apart from Buddhist studies, other streams including human sciences were taught. There were clearly defined procedure for admission to the university.


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Tourists locked out of Konark Sun Temple due to protest by locals

Tourists to the Konark Sun Temple, a UNESCO Heritage site, were locked out and had to return disappointed because of agitation by locals over the increase in entry fees. The locals had made the temple off limits to thousands of tourists when a group of locals locked the monument's main gate to protest the recent hike in the prices of entry ticket.
This 13th century Sun Temple witnesses footfall of at least 5,000 tourists on any given day which increases to nearly double in peak seasons. Konark is a seaside location and attracts maximum tourists due to its close proximity to Bhubaneswar and Puri.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 7 May 2016.

It seems on April 2 the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had increased the entry fee to Konark temple from Rs 10 to Rs 30 for tourists from across India, the SAARC nations and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries. The price was doubled to Rs 500 for tourists from other countries.
Tourists and travel professionals have sought immediate intervention of the state government to resolve the crisis and the tour operators and travel agencies have urged the tourism department to discuss the matter with the top officials of the ASI.
An entry fee at the Sun Temple in Konark was first imposed in 1996 and was last revised in 2000 to Rs 10 for Indians and Rs 250 for foreigners.


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#Hatra #Nimrud #ISIS #Mosul #Iraq #UNESCOWorldHeritage After the destruction of Nimrud the Islamic State have now targeted the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in Iraq as a part of what it has termed as a cultural cleansing mission as reported in news.sky.com dated 7 March 2015.
UNESCO has already said that the destruction of Nimrud "constitutes a war crime" and has called on people around the world to protect "the heritage of the whole of humanity". Nimrud, located on the River Tigris just south of Mosul, had fallen to the ISIS last June.
The IS has now turned its attention on looting and destroying artefacts from the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in Iraq. According to a Kurdish official, the militants have removed artefacts from Hatra and have taken activities to destroy the Roman period ancient fortress city.
It seems local residents near Hatra had heard two large explosions followed by bulldozers moving in.
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