Final nomination submitted for listing in Tilaurakot World Heritage List

KATHMANDU, Feb 02:The Government of Nepal has submitted the final nomination paperwork to the UNESCO World Heritage Center to include Tilaurakot Kapilvastu, the capital of the ancient Sakya Kingdom, on the World Heritage List.

Sudheer Bhattarai, Ambassador of Nepal to France and Permanent Representative of Nepal to UNESCO, formally handed the nomination document to Lazare Eloundou Assomo, Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

Sanuraja Shakya, member secretary of Lumbini Development Trust (LDT), stated in a press statement on Thursday that it is a source of great pleasure that the strategic nomination document prepared by national and international experts has been submitted to the World Heritage Center's central office in Paris, France.

"It is a matter of happiness not only for us but for all heritage lovers that the work done by the team of professors of Durham University as experts, along with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Lumbini Development Trust, Department of Archeology has been worthwhile" , the statement went on to say.

Member Secretary Shakya stated that now that the essential process has begun on behalf of the Trust, including preparations to list Tilaurakot as a World Heritage Site by 2025, everyone is expected to provide constructive support and collaboration.

Scientific archaeological excavations undertaken since 2014 under the UNESCO Japanese Fund in Trust initiative, led by Prof Robin Cunningham of Durham University, have yielded sufficient evidence to include Tilaurakot on the World Heritage List.

Keeping Tilaurakot Kapilvastu's designation on the possible world heritage list as a national priority, a steering group was constituted to seek the necessary support tools, resource assurance, and advice from the government and relevant agencies. The vice president of the Lumbini Development Trust will serve as the committee's coordinator.

The government included the topic of Tilaurakot's inclusion on the World Heritage List into the policy, program, and budget for fiscal year 2078/79 BS. 

At the 45th World Heritage Committee meeting, a promotional program for Tilaurakot Kapilavastu was held.

Rai, Senior Director of Lumbini Development Trust, stated that the final nomination paperwork had been legally sent to the World Heritage Center's central office, and that the procedure of registering Kapilvastu Tilaurakot with the World Heritage Center had been completed successfully.

According to the statement, international and national experts included in the strategic document the necessary facts and bases for including the Tilaurakot Palace, where Siddharth Gautam spent 29 years, on the World Heritage List.

Tilaurakot was designated a potential World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996.