Draft proposal readied for Puducherry to be nominated to tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Cities

Puducherry takes major step to be nominated to UNESCO World Heritage Cities list. INTACH has prepared draft document as per Unesco guidelines. Govt. has notified regulation to protect heritage sites, constituted State Level Heritage Conservation Committee and proposed 2nd list of buildings for public suggestions. Puducherry must have outstanding universal value and meet criteria to be included in tentative list. Syncretic architecture combines Tamil functionality and French aesthetics. INTACH and heritage conservationists demand govt. address traffic, parking, pavements and street-lights before Unesco visit. Unesco nomination will give Puducherry international recognition and funding for tourism and urban environment mgmt.

In a major step, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has prepared a draft document for Puducherry to be nominated to the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Cities.

The State Level Heritage Conservation Committee had proposed to make an application to Unesco, and the draft document has been prepared as per the guidelines of Unesco. 

According to Ashok Panda, co-convenor of the Puducherry chapter of INTACH, “Puducherry has already taken a leap to achieve the status by reaching three milestones in the initiative. The government has notified a regulation to protect heritage sites and heritage precincts. It has also constituted the State Level Heritage Conservation Committee and has proposed the second list of 118 private and 13 religious buildings to be notified as listed heritage buildings. This second list of buildings has been put in the public domain till August 31, 2023 for suggestions from the public by the Puducherry Planning Authority.”

Earlier, the first list of 114 heritage buildings in the Boulevard were notified as protected structures: these include the landmark Governor’s House, the Old Court building where the President of India Droupadi Murmu stayed during her visit to Puducherry, and the Police Headquarters.

Mr. Panda pointed out that Puducherry must have an “outstanding universal value” and meet at least one of the 10 criteria to be included in the tentative list.

“Puducherry is a site where a confluence of cultures has created a unique architectural milieu composed of French colonial buildings, traditional Tamil homes, and exceptional examples of the fused architectural style that is Franco-Tamil. This combination and Franco-Tamil architecture in itself, which is the direct result of the colonial period of cultural interchange, is unique within India and this world and should be preserved,” he noted.

The Franco-Tamil colonial interchange is apparent in the built urban landscapes of Puducherry. This is particularly visible in the syncretic architecture which combines values for Tamil functionality (i.e. thalvarams and thinnais for neighbourhood socializing, mutrams for proper ventilation of the home) and for French aesthetics (cornices, arched doorways, stained-glass windows, etc), according to INTACH.