CHETTINAD HERITAGE
A Cultural Region known for its
Outstanding Heritage
In June 2006, Chettinad was submitted to the Watch List of the World Monuments Fund, a New York based organization supported by the American Express Foundation. The richly historical region was added to the Watch List in 2008. Later that year, UNESCO New Delhi in cooperation with the Tamil Nadu Government launched the “Revive Chettinad Heritage Campaign,” a plan for the preservation and conservation of the region’s exceptional tangible and intangible heritage. The campaign undertook detailed documentation and inventory programs and produced seminars on heritage preservation and heritage-based development in the region.
As a result of its research, the Campaign gained the support of the Advisory Committee on World Heritage Matters (ACWHM). This led in 2014 to Chettinad’s inclusion in the World Heritage Tentative List of India as “Chettinad, Village Clusters of Tamil Merchants.” The file was submitted by the Government of Tamil Nadu to the Permanent Commission to UNESCO.
Thanks to these efforts, it is hoped that Chettinad will soon be tagged as a UNESCO World Heritage Site to enable and ensure the preservation and conservation of the region’s unique heritage.
In 2010, as part of the “Revive Chettinad Heritage Campaign” and the UNESCO India Heritage Passport Program, UNESCO published “On the Chettinad Trail in Tamil Nadu“, authored by architects, Bernard Dragon and Michel Adment.
The booklet is a general inventory of the region and aims at sensitizing the local and national authorities as well as the local community to the exceptional historical and cultural value of Chettinad heritage.
A French version of the booklet was published in 2012 with the support of the French Centre as “Itinéraire du Chettinad au Tamil Nadu.”
“Chettinad, Village Clusters of Tamil Merchants,” (2016) is a revised edition produced after the inclusion into the UNESCO Tentative List of India.