UNESCO award for Srirangam temple

•  The Sri Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam has bagged an award of merit from UNESCO for protecting and conserving cultural heritage, thus becoming the first temple from Tamil Nadu to grab the prestigious honour from the UN body.
• The old grandeur of the temple has been restored. About 60,000 tonnes of construction waste/debris was removed during the renovation.
• The hundred-pillar and thousand-pillar mandapams and various other mandapams, some of which were out of the public view for long, have been restored, as were several sculptures in the numerous sub-shrines.
• The project has revealed the original fabric of the shrines, water bodies and landscape within the temple’s four inner enclosures, which were once obscured under layers of inappropriate modern additions and tons of debris.
• Employing traditional construction materials and techniques, the restoration work was carried out in an authentic manner by local craftspeople in accordance with ancient building principles and rites.
• The temple today attracts great attention among its devotees and supporters, whose renewed sense of pride and custodianship will ensure its long-term sustainability.

About temple:

• ‘Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple’, also known as ‘Thiruvarangam’ is situated in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli district of Tamilnadu.
• This famous temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and also most important one among the 108 Divya Desam Temples. Srirangam is an island located in the middle of the Rivers ‘Kaveri’ and ‘Kollidam’ and also a part of the city Tiruchirapalli.
• Thiruvarangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is also known as ‘Thiruvaranga Tirupati’, ‘Periyakoil’, ‘Bhoologa Vaikundam’, and ‘Bhogamandabam’.
• As per the literature, it is said that the temple belongs to the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala and the Vijayanagar rulers who ruled the Tiruchirapalli district.
• Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple constitutes Seven Prakarams (passageway sorrounding with big walls) around the temple which covers next to next each other and the seven great walls are referred as the Seven Worlds.

By: Vishal