The Red Fort, Delhi’s defining monument and a symbol of India’s sovereign nationhood, is now a world heritage site. The Unesco’s World Heritage Committee on Thursday added the Fort to a list of properties of “outstanding universal value” that it considers part of the planet’s “cultural and natural heritage”.
The Iwami Ginzan silver mine in Japan, the Parthian fortresses of Nisa in Turkmenistan and the Sydney Opera House were also added to the list that now has 848 properties.
Humayun’s Tomb and the Qutub Minar complex are two Delhi sites that made it to the list in 1993. There are 24 other Unesco World Heritage sites in India; among them the Taj, the Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta caves, the Kaziranga, Keoladeo and Sundarban National Parks, the Darjeeling mountain railway, and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.
World Heritage status will bring global tourist attention to the Fort. Unesco norms bind the government and all other players with an obligation to maintain and preserve the site, failing which it can be taken off the list.