Decision - 28COM 14B.32 - Extension of Properties Inscribed on the World Heritage List (Great Living Chola Temples)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Approves the extension of the Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, India, to include the Brihadisvara Temple Complex in Gangaikondacholapuram and the Airavatesvara Temple Complex in Darasuram under existing cultural criteria (ii) and (iii). The name of the property as extended will become the Great Living Chola Temples:

Criterion (ii): The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur became the first great example of the Chola temples, followed by a development of which the other two properties also bear witness.

Criterion (iii): The three Great Chola Temples are an exceptional and the most outstanding testimony to the development of the architecture of the Chola Empire and the Tamil civilisation in Southern India.

2. Inscribes the Great Living Chola Temples, India on the World Heritage List, on the basis of cultural criteria (i) and (iv), in addition to existing cultural criteria (ii) and (iii):

Criterion (i): The three Chola temples of Southern India represent an outstanding creative achievement in the architectural conception of the pure form of the dravida type of temple.

Criterion (iv): The Great Chola temples at Thanjavur, at
Gangaikondacholapuram and Darasuram are outstanding examples of the architecture and the representation of the Chola ideology.