Lakkundi temples set to be finalised for UNESCO tentative listing as World Heritage Sites

The group of monuments at Lakkundi, and temples from surrounding places, dating from the early the 10th to 12th centuries CE and built during the period of Kalyana Chaluykas or Western Chalukyas, are in the process of being finalised for inclusion in the UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

The group of monuments at Lakkundi, and temples from surrounding places, dating from the early the 10th to 12th centuries CE and built during the period of Kalyana Chaluykas or Western Chalukyas, are in the process of being finalised for inclusion in the UNESCO’s tentative list of World Heritage Sites.

The State which has already announced its intent to give the proposal a push, tied up with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) which was fine tuning the proposal.

The INTACH has zeroed in on key temples and stepped tanks constructed during the period of Kalyana Chalukyas in Lakkundi, the Doddabasappa temple and Japada Bavi at Dambal, the Trikuteshwara temple at Gadag, the Mahadeva temple at Itagi, the Sri Mallikarjuna temple at Kuruvatti, the Someshwara temple at Lakshmeshwara in Gadag, and the Tarakeshwara temple at Hangal.

The Lakkundi group of monuments include the 11th century Kasi Visvesvara temple, the Manikesvara temple, the Nanneswara temple, the Brahma Jinalaya [the oldest temple in Lakkundi and dated to 1007 CE], and Musukina Bavi.

But Pankaj Modi, conservation architect from INTACH, said the list may be pruned or expanded based on further discussions with experts from the Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage based on feedback from other stakeholders.

The monuments listed under “Architectural Ensembles of Kalyana Chalukyas” fulfil two of the six criteria which should be met for inclusion in the UNESCO tentative and final list.

One of the criteria states that the monuments should exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, two planning or design.