State archaeology dept. gearing up for UNESCO committee visit
On February 1, the ministry of culture, Maharashtra, had announced submitting the ‘Maratha Military Landscape’ for evaluation for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List for 2024-25
Ahead of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) committee visit to evaluate 11 forts in Maharashtra – proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List for 2024-25 – the state archaeology department is gearing up to arrange cultural programmes and exhibitions at these forts and to clean them.
Vilas Wahane, assistant director, state archaeology department, Pune, said, “We are in the planning phase of multiple events such as local art presentations, exhibitions and some others. The actual work will begin soon. Currently, we are approaching multiple colleges, voluntary organisations and villagers to draw participation from them.”
“To showcase the rich history of Maharashtra, we are planning various programmes at the time of the committee visit that include exhibitions at each fort showcasing the highlights of the Maratha era. Cultural programmes including folk dance, traditional art forms and also traditional sports activities. All this work requires a huge team as we are planning to portray the socio-cultural significance of the forts. For this, we are currently holding discussions and seminars with colleges. Students and teachers will be participating in this to coordinate the various programmes, documentation and photo-videography related work,’’ Wahane said.
“Apart from this, we need to carry out some basic things including cleaning work at forts. In the rainy season, the forts gather a lot of moss which needs to be cleared. Water tanks too need to be cleaned and hence, we are communicating with voluntary organisations that regularly conduct cleaning drives at forts. We asked for their participation and so far, nearly 250 organisations have evinced interest in participating in this programme,” Wahane said. They are waiting for the rainfall activity to reduce after which they will carry out the cleaning drive, he added.
On February 1, the ministry of culture, Maharashtra, had announced submitting the ‘Maratha Military Landscape’ for evaluation for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List for 2024-25. The nomination includes 12 forts namely Salher Fort, Shivneri Fort, Lohagad, Khanderi Fort, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala Fort, Vijay Durg, Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, and Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu. The proposal was accepted and an evaluation committee is now set to visit these forts in September this year. Although the dates for the visit are yet to be finalised, the archaeology department is gearing up for the grand welcome of the committee including showcasing the rich heritage and culture of Maharashtra through various activities.