UNESCO to soon declare Visva-Bharati world’s first living heritage university.

February 7, 2023

Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, Visva-Bharati University will soon get ‘heritage’tag from UNESCO to take distinction of world’s first living heritage university.
- World Heritage Sites are cultural and/or natural sites of ‘Outstanding Universal Value; which are important across countries and generations.
When founded in 1921 on 1,130 acres of land, it was named after Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore until Visva-Bharati Society was registered as an organisation in May 1922. Rabindranath Tagore donated some of his property, including land and a bungalow, to the society.
University was inaugurated as a Centre for Culture with exploration into arts, language, humanities, music and these are reflected in diverse institutes.
Structures in these institutes constitute a myriad of architectural expressions which are as diverse as the Kalo Bari (a mud structure with coal tar finish and sculpture panels), Mastermoshai studio (a single storied structure built for the first principal of Kala Bhavan, Nandalal Bose), etc.
University has an open-air education system.
Until Independence, it was a college and the institution was given the status of Central University in 1951 through a central Act.
Its first vice-chancellor was Rathindranath Tagore, the son of Rabindranath Tagore, and the second vice-chancellor was grandfather of another Nobel Laureate economist Amartya Sen.