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

Source: The post is based on the article “UNESCO to soon declare Visva-Bharati world’s first living heritage university” published in Indian Express on 7th February 2023.

What is the News?

Visva-Bharati University will soon get the ‘heritage’ tag from UNESCO to take the distinction of world’s first living heritage university.

What is Visva-Bharati University?

Visva-Bharati is a public research central university and an Institution of National Importance.

It was founded in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.

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.

Rabindranath believed in open-air education and introduced that system at the university, which prevails to date.

In 1922, Visva-Bharati was inaugurated as a Centre for Culture with exploration into the arts, language, humanities and music.

Architecture: The structures in this institute constitute a myriad of architectural expressions which are as diverse as the Kalo Bari, a mud structure with coal tar finish and sculpture panels.