Property: Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara
Id. N°: 870
State Party: Japan
Criteria: C(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
The Committee inscribed the property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv) and added criterion (vi):
Criterion (ii): The historic monuments of ancient Nara bear exceptional witness to the evolution of Japanese architecture and art as a result of cultural links with China and Korea which were to have a profound influence on future developments.
Criterion (iii): The flowering of Japanese culture during the period when Nara was the capital is uniquely demonstrated by its architectural heritage.
Criterion (iv): The layout of the Imperial Palace and the design of the surviving monuments in Nara are outstanding examples of the architecture and planning of early Asian capital cities.
Criterion (vi): The Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines of Nara demonstrate the continuing spiritual power and influence of these religions in an exceptional manner.
The Delegate of Thailand proposed the inscription of this site on the basis of criterion (vi) as well as the other three. Following on other situations in which criterion (vi) was applied, the Committee by consensus agreed that in this case the use of criterion (vi), in combination with the other criteria, was fully justified.