After various fake news of Indian things being declared as heritage or important by UNESCO, such as our National Anthem, our currency and more, we finally have an official thing declared by UNESCO.
And it is none other than the hometown of our PM Modiji, Ahmedabad.
Yes, as per reports, UNESCO has officially declared the state of Ahmedabad in Gujarat as a World Heritage Site and later on tweeted this: “Just inscribed as UNESCO world heritage site: Historic city of Ahmedabad #India”.
The 600-year-old city is the first city or state in our country to have gotten this tag of being a World Heritage City and this is no small feat.
As expected, this news was extremely well received by our Prime Minister, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and even BJP chief Amit Shah.
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But what exactly was it about Ahmedabad that made UNESCO give such a tag to it, in the first place?
Been In The Running For Long
Since 2010, Modi who was then CM of Gujarat, has been trying to get Ahmedabad noticed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.
Ahmedabad was also competing against the metro city Mumbai and the capital of India, New Delhi for this tag.
However, Ahmedabad saw its first victory when it was entered in 2011 into UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage cities and the dossier of Ahmedabad was prepared.
Ahmedabad’s Historic Cityscapes
Ahmedabad is not just known for its culture, but also its cityscapes, which just enhance the city’s beauty even more. Some of them are:
1. Kankaria Lake:
The Kankaria Lake or as earlier known Hauz e Qutub is a perfectly circular shaped and also 2nd largest lake in Ahmedabad.
The lake has worked as a big tourist and local attraction with it also having a zoo, kids city, toy train and more constructed around it.
A piece of trivia about this lake is that the famous SBI logo was inspired from the Kankaria Lake only.
2. Sidi Saiyyed Mosque:
The Sidi Saiyyed Mosque was built during the last years of Sultanate of Gujarat. It has immense historical value as the monument is more than 400 years old.
3. Pols:
Pols are also a trademark of Ahmedabad which are generally a housing cluster wherein families of a particular group are connected by either religion, caste or profession.
These pols, when combined together, are also called ‘pur’ or a neighbourhood.
But overall it was the ability to combine traditional with modern technology and advancements and the community diversity that the city is witness to.
Image Credits: Google Images
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