UNESCO World Heritage Sites

UNESCO World Heritage Sites are cultural, natural, or mixed properties recognized for their Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) to humanity under the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention. A site must first be included in a country’s Tentative List, after which it is nominated and evaluated by advisory bodies before being inscribed by the World Heritage Committee. India has 45 World Heritage Sites (37 Cultural, 7 Natural, 1 Mixed) as per the PIB information provided, with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) responsible for conserving many of these monuments. 

The ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh, India, was officially inscribed as India’s 45th UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 25, 2026, during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea.

UNESCO World Heritage Selection Criteria

To be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, a site must possess Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) and satisfy at least one of the ten selection criteria.

Cultural Criteria (i–vi):

• Criterion (i): Masterpiece of human creative genius.
• Criterion (ii): Important interchange of human values in architecture, technology, arts, town planning, or landscape design.
• Criterion (iii): Exceptional testimony to a living or vanished cultural tradition or civilization.
• Criterion (iv): Outstanding example of a building, architectural ensemble, or landscape representing a significant stage in human history.
• Criterion (v): Outstanding example of traditional human settlement, land use, or human interaction with the environment.
• Criterion (vi): Direct association with events, traditions, ideas, beliefs, or artistic/literary works of outstanding universal significance.

Natural Criteria (vii–x):

• Criterion (vii): Exceptional natural beauty or superlative natural phenomena.
• Criterion (viii): Major stages of Earth’s history, geological processes, or geomorphic features.
• Criterion (ix): Outstanding ecological and biological processes in ecosystems.
• Criterion (x): Significant natural habitats for the in-situ conservation of biodiversity, including threatened species.