Tilaurakot To Stay Unlisted within UNESCO’s WHS

Kathmandu: Tilaurakot, the archaeological remains of the ancient Shakya Kingdom, was first proposed to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on May 23, 1996. With a series of unsuccessful attempts, the proposal presented at the ongoing 47th UNESCO session was yet again not approved.

The World Heritage Committee session, which began on July 6 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, will continue until July 16 and is focused on reviewing nominations for inclusion on the World Heritage List.

According to the Tourism Ministry, Badri Prasad Pandey, Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, together with the Lumbini Development Trust officials, presented the proposal to include Tilaurakot in the list of World Heritage Sites in the session in Paris.

The extensive research and documentation efforts for Tilaurakot’s potential listing on the World Heritage List have been ongoing since 2014 under the UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust project.