{
  "id": 36807,
  "title": "Sarnath recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Site: Full list of India's sites, criteria for inclusion",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/02/sarnath-recognised-as-unesco-world-heritage-site-full-list-of-indias",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-02T08:25:11.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Hindu",
    "slug": "the-hindu",
    "url": "https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sarnath-unesco-world-heritage-site-uttar-pradesh-varanasi-full-list/article71271536.ece"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On July 25, 2026, Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh was officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee held in Busan, South Korea. The declaration came as part of India's Ministry of Culture's announcement, highlighting the site's significance in showcasing the country's rich cultural legacy, including its diverse architectural brilliance and historical continuity. India now boasts a total of 45 World Heritage Sites, with the last addition being the Maratha Military Landscapes in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in 2024. To be included in the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List, a property must demonstrate outstanding universal value by meeting at least one of ten criteria. These criteria include representing a masterpiece of human creative genius, exhibiting an important interchange of human values, bearing unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or civilization, being an outstanding example of a type of building or landscape, being associated with events or living traditions, containing superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty, representing major stages of Earth’s history, showcasing ongoing ecological and biological processes, and containing the most significant natural habitats for conservation of biological diversity.",
  "summary": "India now has 45 World Heritage Sites according to the UNESCO website. The last addition or ‘inscription’ was in 2024, with the Maratha Military Landscapes located Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Hindu",
        "title": "Sarnath earns UNESCO World Heritage tag, takes India’s tally to 45",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/02/sarnath-earns-unesco-world-heritage-tag-takes-indias-tally-to-45",
        "published": "2026-08-02T08:23:52.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}