The archaeological site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University) in Bihar has been included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, which also featured three new sites from China, Iran and Micronesia. The inclusion of the four new sites was announced at the 40th session of The World Heritage Committee meeting in Istanbul in Turkey. “Congrats…! Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara is now a #WorldHeritageSite. Thank you @UNESCO @IrinaBokova,” India’s Culture Ministry tweeted today.
Located at a distance of 95 kilometres from Patna, the ancient Nalanda University was a major Mahavihara or a large Buddhist monastery that also doubled up as an important centre of learning from the 5th to 1200 CE in the erstwhile kingdom of Magadha. Although there was a doubt whether Nalanda would be declared as a heritage site by UNESCO as allegedly there were several weaknesses in the submitted dossier, the ruins of this ancient university has been finally successful in getting an international recognition it always deserved.
Nalanda University Declared UNESCO World Heritage Site
