India's 4 More Heritage Sites Added to UNESCO Tentative List, taking India's total to 73

Key facts

• Four more properties were added to India's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, bringing the total number of Indian properties on the list to 73.
• The 73 properties include 53 cultural, three mixed and 17 natural properties.
• The four new sites are the Colonial Penal Settlement of Andaman Islands, Nicobarese Cultural Continuity in the Central Group of Nicobar Islands, Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble and The Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati.
• The additions span the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam and Rajasthan.
• The Tentative List is the first mandatory stage in UNESCO's World Heritage nomination process, and a country cannot submit a property for the World Heritage List unless it is first on its Tentative List.
• The Colonial Penal Settlement of Andaman Islands comprises Cellular Jail, Viper Island, Chatham Island and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island, formerly Ross Island.
• The Cellular Jail, completed in 1906, became a powerful symbol of colonial repression and India's freedom struggle.
• The Nicobarese Cultural Continuity property is recorded under UNESCO cultural criteria (iii), (v) and (vi).
• The Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble in Assam's Sivasagar district represents the Ahom Kingdom's achievements, including Talatal Ghar and Rang Ghar, and was submitted to the Tentative List on 19 June 2026.
• The Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati is a serial nomination covering 14 towns in the Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar districts of Rajasthan, built largely between the 18th and early 20th centuries.
• Assam's World Heritage profile grew following the inscription of the Moidams in 2024.