🏛 World Heritage Sites of India
All 45 of India’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites — 37 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed — from the rock shelters of Bhimbetka to Sarnath, added in 2026, with the year each was inscribed and its state, on one map.
Maps show India’s boundaries as officially depicted by the Government of India. Pins mark approximate locations.
🏺 Ancient and Buddhist sites
Rock art, a Harappan city, and the great Buddhist sites.
-
1983
Ajanta Caves
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra
Buddhist caves begun in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, with richly painted caves added in the Gupta period.
-
1989
Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi
🏛 Cultural · Madhya Pradesh
About 40 km from Bhopal; most monuments date to the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. UNESCO calls it the oldest Buddhist sanctuary in existence.
-
2002
Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh Gaya
🏛 Cultural · Bihar
One of the four holy sites of the Buddha’s life — where he attained Enlightenment. The first temple was built by Asoka; the present one dates from the 5th or 6th century.
-
2003
Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka
🏛 Cultural · Madhya Pradesh
Five clusters of natural rock shelters in the Vindhya foothills, with paintings from the Mesolithic period to historical times.
-
2016
Archaeological Site of Nalanda Mahavihara at Nalanda, Bihar
🏛 Cultural · Bihar
Remains of a monastic and scholastic institution from the 3rd century BCE to the 13th century CE: stupas, shrines and viharas.
-
2021
Dholavira: a Harappan City
🏛 Cultural · Gujarat
The southern centre of the Harappan Civilization, on the island of Khadir, occupied c. 3000–1500 BCE: a fortified city and a cemetery.
-
2026
Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath
🏛 Cultural · Uttar Pradesh (from UNESCO’s map point)
Where the Buddha is believed to have given his first sermon and met his first disciples — India’s newest World Heritage Site (2026).
🛕 Caves, temples and stepwells
Rock-cut caves and the temples of the Pallavas, Chalukyas, Chandellas, Cholas, Kakatiyas and Hoysalas.
-
1983
Ellora Caves
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra
34 monasteries and temples cut into a basalt cliff, in an unbroken sequence from 600 to 1000 CE.
-
1984
Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
🏛 Cultural · Tamil Nadu
Sanctuaries carved out of rock by the Pallava kings in the 7th and 8th centuries — the rathas, the mandapas and the ‘Descent of the Ganges’.
-
1984
Sun Temple, Konârak
🏛 Cultural · Odisha
A 13th-century temple built as the chariot of the sun god Surya, with 24 carved wheels drawn by six horses.
-
1986
Khajuraho Group of Monuments
🏛 Cultural · Madhya Pradesh
Temples of the Chandella dynasty (at its height 950–1050): about 20 survive, Hindu and Jain, balancing architecture and sculpture.
-
1987
Elephanta Caves
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra
The ‘City of Caves’ on an island near Mumbai, with huge high reliefs linked to the cult of Shiva.
-
1987, 2004
Great Living Chola Temples
🏛 Cultural · Tamil Nadu (from UNESCO’s map point)
Three great 11th- and 12th-century Chola temples: the Brihadisvara temples at Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram.
-
1987
Group of Monuments at Pattadakal
🏛 Cultural · Karnataka
Nine Hindu temples and a Jain sanctuary of the 7th–8th-century Chalukyas, blending northern and southern Indian forms.
-
2014
Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat
🏛 Cultural · Gujarat
An 11th-century stepwell on the banks of the Saraswati, first built as a memorial to a king.
-
2021
Kakatiya Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple, Telangana
🏛 Cultural · Telangana
The main Shiva temple of a Kakatiya walled complex at Palampet; its sandstone construction began in 1213 CE.
-
2023
Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas
🏛 Cultural · Karnataka (from UNESCO’s map point)
The three most representative Hoysala-style temple complexes, from the 12th–13th centuries.
🏰 Forts, tombs and historic cities
From the Qutb Minar and Hampi to the Mughal monuments, Rajput and Maratha forts and planned cities.
-
1983
Agra Fort
🏛 Cultural · Uttar Pradesh
The 16th-century Mughal ‘Red Fort of Agra’, with 2.5 km of red sandstone walls enclosing the imperial city.
-
1983
Taj Mahal
🏛 Cultural · Uttar Pradesh
A white marble mausoleum built in Agra between 1631 and 1648 by Shah Jahan in memory of his wife.
-
1986
Fatehpur Sikri
🏛 Cultural · Uttar Pradesh
Akbar’s ‘City of Victory’, capital of the Mughal Empire for only about 10 years; it includes the Jama Masjid.
-
1986
Group of Monuments at Hampi
🏛 Cultural · Karnataka
The last capital of the Vijayanagara kingdom, admired by travellers in the 14th–16th centuries and sacked after 1565.
-
1993
Humayun's Tomb, Delhi
🏛 Cultural · Delhi
Built in 1570, the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent — an inspiration for the Taj Mahal.
-
1993
Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi
🏛 Cultural · Delhi
An early-13th-century red sandstone tower 72.5 m high, with the Alai Darwaza gate nearby.
-
2004
Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park
🏛 Cultural · Gujarat
A landscape of prehistoric sites, a hill fortress and the remains of the 16th-century capital of Gujarat.
-
2007
Red Fort Complex
🏛 Cultural · Delhi
The palace fort of Shah Jahan’s capital Shahjahanabad, named for its red sandstone walls, beside the older Salimgarh fort.
-
2010
The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur
🏛 Cultural · Rajasthan (from UNESCO’s map point)
An early-18th-century astronomical observatory with some 20 main fixed masonry instruments for naked-eye observation.
-
2013
Hill Forts of Rajasthan
🏛 Cultural · Rajasthan
Six forts — Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Sawai Madhopur (Ranthambore), Jhalawar (Gagron), Jaipur (Amber) and Jaisalmer — of the Rajput states, 8th–18th centuries.
-
2017
Historic City of Ahmadabad
🏛 Cultural · Gujarat (from UNESCO’s map point)
The walled city founded by Sultan Ahmad Shah in the 15th century on the Sabarmati, with the Bhadra citadel, mosques, tombs and Hindu and Jain temples.
-
2019
Jaipur City, Rajasthan
🏛 Cultural · Rajasthan
The walled city founded in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II on the plain, laid out on a grid plan.
-
2024
Moidams – the Mound-Burial System of the Ahom Dynasty
🏛 Cultural · Assam
The royal burial mounds of the Tai-Ahom in the Patkai foothills, created over 600 years.
-
2025
Maratha Military Landscapes of India
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu
Twelve forts such as Raigad, Shivneri and Sindhudurg, built or expanded by the Marathas from the late 17th to the early 19th century.
🏛 Colonial and modern heritage
Churches of Goa, mountain railways, Mumbai’s Gothic and Art Deco, Santiniketan and Chandigarh.
-
1986
Churches and Convents of Goa
🏛 Cultural · Goa
Churches of the former capital of the Portuguese Indies, among them the Church of Bom Jesus with the tomb of St Francis Xavier.
-
1999, 2005, 2008
Mountain Railways of India
🏛 Cultural · West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh (from UNESCO’s map point)
Three hill railways; the first, the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, opened in 1881. The Nilgiri and Kalka–Shimla railways were added in 2005 and 2008.
-
2004
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus)
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra
A Victorian Gothic Revival station blended with Indian traditional themes, designed by F. W. Stevens.
-
2016
The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement
🏛 Cultural · Chandigarh (from UNESCO’s map point)
A transnational property of 17 sites in seven countries; India’s part is the Capitol Complex at Chandigarh.
-
2018
Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai
🏛 Cultural · Maharashtra (from UNESCO’s map point)
Public buildings around the Oval Maidan, first in Victorian Neo-Gothic and then, in the early 20th century, in the Art Deco style.
-
2023
Santiniketan
🏛 Cultural · West Bengal
Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1901 as a school and centre for art; a ‘world university’ followed in 1921.
🌿 Natural and mixed sites
Seven natural sites and India’s one mixed site.
-
1985
Kaziranga National Park
🌿 Natural · Assam
Home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceroses, with tigers, elephants and thousands of birds.
-
1985
Keoladeo National Park
🌿 Natural · Rajasthan
A former duck-hunting reserve, now a major wintering ground for water birds; some 364 bird species recorded, including the Siberian crane.
-
1985
Manas Wildlife Sanctuary
🌿 Natural · Assam
Himalayan foothills of grassland and forest, home to the tiger, pygmy hog, Indian rhinoceros and elephant.
-
1987
Sundarbans National Park
🌿 Natural · West Bengal
In the Ganges delta, with the world’s largest area of mangrove forests, shared with Bangladesh; home to tigers.
-
1988, 2005
Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks
🌿 Natural · Uttarakhand
High West Himalayan parks with meadows of alpine flowers and the snow leopard, Asiatic black bear and blue sheep.
-
2012
Western Ghats
🌿 Natural · Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra (from UNESCO’s map point)
A mountain chain older than the Himalaya whose forests influence the Indian monsoon.
-
2014
Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area
🌿 Natural · Himachal Pradesh
High alpine peaks, meadows and riverine forests, protecting the glacial sources of several rivers.
-
2016
Khangchendzonga National Park
⛰ Mixed · Sikkim
India’s only mixed (natural and cultural) site: valleys, lakes and glaciers around Mount Khangchendzonga, the world’s third highest peak.
How we check: every name, year and description is from UNESCO’s World Heritage List (its India page and its official data), and our build fails unless each phrase is found there. Where UNESCO’s text does not name the state, the state shown is the one in which UNESCO’s own map point falls. The list grows most years in July.