World Heritage Day observed with theme Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism

World Heritage Day: 18 April

The 2017 World Heritage Day was observed across the world on 18 April 2017. The theme for the year is Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism.

The theme for the 2017 World Heritage Day was chosen in relation to the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The day is aims at raising awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving various sites around the world that have achieved world heritage status.

World heritage in India

• As of July 2016, there are 27 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed World Heritage Sites in India that are recognised by the UNESCO.

• These sites are places of importance of cultural or natural heritage as described in the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, established in 1972.

• India’s first two sites inscribed on the list at the Seventh Session of the World Heritage held in 1983 were the Agra Fort and the Ajanta Caves.

• The latest three sites to be added in the list in July 2016 were "Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara (Nalanda University)" at Nalanda, Bihar, "Capitol Building Complex – The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier" in Chandigarh and "Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim."

About World Heritage Day

• On 18 April 1982, the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) organised a symposium in Tunisia. It was on that day the Council suggested a special day to be celebrated all through the world in the name of "International Day for Monuments and Sites" on the same day every year.

• The notion was also approved by the UNESCO General Conference who passed a resolution at its 22nd session in November 1983.

• The International Day for Monuments and Sites has been traditionally called the World Heritage Day.