KOCHI
: Steps are afoot to find
Muziris a place in the Unesco
cultural landscape category under the
Unesco world heritage centres.
A seven-member committee, including two board members associated with Unesco, was formed after the
Muziris
project board meeting.
"There are only two sites in Kerala that has made it to the tentative list of the Unesco world heritage sites, namely the Mattanchery Palace and Padmanabhapuram Temple. Muziris, if listed under the chart, will come under the cultural landscape category of Unesco world heritage sites," said Nowshad P M, managing director of
Muziris Projects Ltd
.
Detailed documentation of the site will be the first step. Primary documentation of the site for various purposes have been conducted, and the same can be used for further researches in the process. "As two of our committee members, Amareswar Galla and Rohit Jigyasu, are already associated with Unesco, a smooth running of the procedures is expected," Nowshad said.
Galla, one of the few accredited mentor of Unesco for the 2003 convention on the safeguarding of intangible heritage, and Rohi Jigyasu, a conservation architect currently working as Unesco chair holder professor at the Institute for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage at Ritsumeikan University, Japan, were present at a national heritage conference organized by the Muziris Project Ltd.
"It was during the event that the academicians took interest in the Muziris landscape and suggested that we set up a committee to initiate procedures for applying to the Unesco world heritage list," Nowshad added.
The procedures are expected to be completed within five years, by the end of which Muziris will hopefully be declared as Unesco cultural landscape.
"The inclusion of Muziris in the list will contribute to the growth of the place as a global excavation site, with the location coming under the purview of archaeologists' studies and research from across the world. Such global attention will prove to be of major advantage both archaeology and tourism wise," said K B Farooq, an archaeology professor.
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