Assam's Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble Added to India's UNESCO Tentative List

5 September 2026· AssamNational

The Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble of Assam, the political and ceremonial centre of the Ahom kingdom, has been added to India's Tentative List of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, with India's Permanent Delegation to UNESCO submitting the nomination on 19 June 2026 under criteria (iii) and (iv). The ensemble, in present-day Sivasagar district, includes the Rang Ghar - described as Asia's oldest surviving amphitheatre - the Talatal Ghar, temples, roads, bridges and the Joysagar, Gaurisagar and Sivasagar tanks. It complements the Charaideo Moidams, inscribed by UNESCO in 2024: Charaideo is where Ahom rulers rest, Rangpur-Sivasagar where they ruled.

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The Ahom dynasty, founded by Sukapha in 1228, ruled the Brahmaputra valley for nearly six centuries | Charaideo Moidams, Assam, became India's first cultural World Heritage Site from the North East when inscribed in 2024 | A Tentative List is the compulsory first step: a site must sit on it for at least one year before a formal World Heritage nomination

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