states: [india]
category: cultural
year: 2023
region: Asia and the Pacific
latitude/longitude: 23.6802777778, 87.6849722222
Santiniketan, a UNESCO World Heritage site in India’s West Bengal, is a 37-hectare cultural landscape founded by poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1901 as an experimental school, later evolving into Visva-Bharati University by 1921. Recognized in 2023, it blends traditional Indian architecture with nature-inspired open-air classrooms, reflecting Tagore’s vision of holistic education rooted in creativity, humanism, and harmony with the environment. This rural retreat, surrounded by ashram-style buildings and artistic heritage, embodies a unique synthesis of Eastern and Western thought, cementing its legacy as a cradle of modern Indian culture.
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