Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will dedicate the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) world heritage site certificate for Jaipur to the people at a function here on Wednesday. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay will be felicitated on the occasion.
Ms. Azoulay’s visit to Jaipur assumes significance after the UNESCO declared the Walled City, famous for its grid plan-based architecture and buildings constructed with the pink facade, as a world heritage site in July last.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites had earlier inspected the city in 2018 after its nomination. It took into account the architecture of the streets with colonnades, which intersect the centre, creating large public squares called chaupars. The uniform facades of markets, residences and temples in the main streets had also impressed the Council.
Director (Tourism) Bhanwar Lal said here on Tuesday a brochure on “intangible heritage promotion project” would also be released at the function. The project, signed between the Tourism Department and UNESCO, aims at developing 10 new cultural tourism destinations in the State, for which the tourists could extend their stay by at least one extra day.
Dr. Lal said the project would be implemented during the next three years at ₹7.50 crore. It will directly benefit about 1,500 artistes in the districts such as Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer and Bikaner, known for folk music and traditional handicrafts.
Jaipur was founded in 1727 by the then Kachwaha Rajput ruler of Amber, Sawai Jai Singh II. The city was established on the plains and built according to a grid plan interpreted in the light of Vedic architecture.
