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Hampi is a very special heritage site, says visiting UNESCO representative

Staff Correspondent

It has potential to attract more international tourists: Minja Yang

HERITAGE SITE: Aresankara Bavi Bagilu at Hampi. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

KAMALAPUR VILLAGE (BELLARY DISTRICT): Minja Yang, representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in India, is of the view that Hampi, the erstwhile seat of the Vijayanagar empire, is a very special world heritage site that has immense potential to attract international tourists.

Hampi was granted World Heritage Site status following a request from the Government of India in 1985. "I have visited several world heritage sites on not less than four continents, but Hampi is a very special site, especially with the beautiful landscape. It is the duty of all citizens of India to protect and preserve it for posterity," she said while addressing members of gram, taluk, zilla and town panchayats in the area here on Monday.

Review

Ms. Yang, accompanied by Paul Trouilloud, a town planning expert from France and a consultant to UNESCO, was here to review the steps taken by the authorities to implement the suggestions made by UNESCO to preserve and protect the group of monuments at Hampi, the progress made in finalising the Integrated Site Management Plan for Hampi and hold discussions with elected representatives from Bellary and Koppal districts on the need to preserve and conserve the world heritage site. This is the third interaction session between the representatives of UNESCO and elected representatives in the past two years organised by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Citing instances, Ms. Yang said that as many as 16 million international tourists visited France every year while only 3.5 million tourists came to India, of whom around one lakh came to Hampi.

Work completed

Mr. Trouilloud, who headed a team of town planners to prepare guidelines for protecting the site, said the work at Anegundi has been completed and it will be the base for other villages. "The idea of coming out with guidelines is not merely to protect the monuments but to preserve the site and its heritage values while taking up developmental activities. People here should lay stress on the importance of the heritage values before deciding on whether it should be retained or removed," he said

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