The World Heritage Sites listing by The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aims to promote awareness and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage around the world, considered to have outstanding value for all humanity, irrespective of location. UNESCO has inscribed 38 such sites in India, all of which are presented in this volume, together with commentary by architects and conservationists and stunning photographs by Rohit Chawla.

The cultural sites in India are a rich repository of the country’s long, layered history, bearing witness to the creativity and influence of multiple communities, crafts and religions. The sites covered in this volume range across the length and breadth of India—from the earliest periods of rock art, Buddhist caves and Hindu temples, Sultanate and Mughal forts, palaces, tombs and memorials, medieval Hindu and Islamic cities, step-wells and observatories to Portuguese churches, Victorian and Art Deco ensembles to, finally, 20th-century industrial and modern heritage sites. The natural and mixed sites include national parks of exceptional natural beauty and sites of long interaction between people and the landscape.