The decision to include Chiang Mai on the tentative list was made at the 39th annual meeting of the committee in the German city of Bonn. The meeting took place between 28 June and 8 July. After considering the proposal of delegates from Chiang Mai, the committee decided to endorse the application.
The entry on the provisional listing is entitled Cultural Landscape of Chiang Mai, Capital of Lanna. The city was founded 700 years ago by King Mengrai as the centre of the Lanna Kingdom. UNESCO noted that even after seven centuries, Chiang Mai was an exemplary example of forward-thinking town planning.
In the report on the heritage designation, the agency stated that the listing included the old city walls and the moat, the 40-plus historic temples in the old city precinct and the scores of other religious monuments in the surrounding area, and its vibrant markets.
Chiang Mai joins four other Thai locations on the provisional listing. One of the others is the 900-year-old Khmer temple ruins of Phimai in the eastern Isarn region.
Inclusion on the tentative list does not guarantee speedy World Heritage designation. Phimai and another Thai site, Phuphrabat Historical Park, have been on the provisional list since 2004.
UNESCO adds Chiang Mai to provisional heritage listing
News in Asia
At a recent meeting of UNESCO, its World Heritage Committee decided to add the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai to its provisional table. This status is the first step towards inclusion on the United Nations agency’s register of designated World Heritage sites.