Kathmandu World Heritage Sites

Kathmandu World Heritage Sites

A site needs to have cultural, historical, scientific or any other form of significance to be designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has enlisted 10 places in Nepal as world heritage sites. This list includes the followings:

Kathmandu Durbar Square: Located at Basantapur, the heart of the city consists of various unique temples and royal palaces which consist of historical values and stories.

Bhaktapur Durbar Square: Located at Bhaktapur, consists of unique architectural designs, Nyatapola, 55 windows palace, the royal palace of rulers of Bhaktapur, and stories associated with them.

Patan Durbar Square: Located at Mangalbazar of Lalitpur, consists of historical stories of rulers in Lalitpur and values and norms associated with locals of the area.

Swayambhunath: A peaceful heritage located at the top of a hill on the west side of Kathmandu. Symbolizes peace, hilltop view of Kathmandu city.

Bouddhanath: Epitomizes Tibetan Buddhism, is located at Bouddha, Kathmandu. Holds significance of artifacts.

Changunarayan: Located at Bhaktapur, the oldest temple in the world. The shrine is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the caretaker god as per Hinduism.

Pashupatinath: A heritage that is considered to be the most powerful divinity- Lord Shiva. God of gods.

Nepal is a diverse land in terms of both culture and nature. But the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Nepal has more cultural heritages enlisted in the world heritage site list while just two sites, i.e natural sites out of ten sites are enlisted in the list of world heritage sites. Out of the ten World Heritage sites in Nepal seven of them are located in the Kathmandu Valley. Marking a place in UNESCO World Heritage Site’s list the heritages endorses itself as extraordinary and distinguished features.

The culture, history, religion, language, and people are visualized in the World heritage sites. The sacred temples, palaces, gompas, museums, monuments, art, and architecture shows us the diversity of culture and traditions in our motherland.

However, due to the harmonious interrelationship between flora and fauna, undisturbed natural phenomenon, variations in the landscape the national parks have been listed in the World Heritage Site list. Therefore, the beauty of these natural heritages is exceptional.

Similarly, Nepal consists of places that are not yet regarded as UNESCO World Heritage Sites but they can be regarded as one in the near future. So the tentative UNESCO World heritage sites in Nepal are; Panauti, Tilaurakot, Muktinath valley, Gorkha, Khokana, Ramagrama stupa, Lo Manthang, Bajrayogini, Sankhu, Kirtipur, Rishikesh Complex, Nuwakot palace, Tansen, Ram Janaki temple, Sinja valley, and Bhurti temple.

Nepal is a small landlocked country with an area of 1,47,181 square kilometers which has such a huge number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. And in such a small area the beauty of every kind is available. The list of World Heritage sites proves that. So, if you want to visit a large number of World Heritage Sites and probable World Heritage Sites in near future Nepal is the best option for you to travel.