With inclusion of Hoysala monuments, Karnataka is now home to four UNESCO sites

The Hoysaleshwara temple at Halebidu which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. | Photo Credit: M.A. SRIRAM

The inscription of Hoysala temples at Belur, Halebid and Somanathapur as UNESCO World Heritage Sites has taken the total number of such properties in the State to four, of which three are cultural properties while Western Ghats is a natural site.

The other two cultural properties are the group of monuments at Hampi belonging to the Vijayanagar period (14^th to 17^th centuries CE) and the temples at Pattadakal which stretch back to the days of Chalukyas and the monuments are dated from 7^th to 9^th centuries CE. Though the three Hoysala temples are inscribed as World Heritage Sites, it is serial nomination and hence they are collectively designated as one site.

On tentative list

In addition, Karnataka has a few more sites under the UNESCO’s tentative list and they include the megalithic burial complex at Hire Benkal in Gangavati taluk of Koppal district; temples at Aihole and Badami to be clubbed under serial nomination with Pattadakallu which is already a World Heritage Site.

The tentative list also include the monuments and forts of the Deccan Sultanate covering the Bahmani monuments at Kalaburagi, Barid Shahi monuments at Bidar, Adil Shahi monuments at Vijayapura all of which are clubbed with the Qutub Shahi monuments in Hyderabad. The monuments in the island town of Srirangapatna are also under the UNESCO tentative list since 2014.

C.G. Betsurmath, former Commissioner, Department of Archaeology and Museums and during whose period the Sacred Ensembles of Hoysalas were submitted for inclusion in the tentative list, said most of the monuments are significant enough to be declared as cultural sites on a stand-alone basis instead of bringing a cluster of them under serial nomination.