The World Heritage : Paharpur Monestry

The World Heritage : Paharpur Monestry

Paharpur Monestry is situated in a village named Paharpur (Pahadpur) under the Badalgachhi Upazila of Naogaon district. The village is connected with the nearby Railway station Jamalganj, the district town Naogaon and Jaipurhat town by metalled roads. It is in the midst of alluvial flat plain of northern Bangladesh. In contrast to the monotonous level of the plain, stands the ruins of the lofty (about 24m high from the surrounding level) ancient temple which was covered with jungle, locally called Pahar or hill from which the name Paharpur is derived.

In 1923 the excavation was started at last by the initiative of the Archaeological Survey of India. This excavation continued until 1934 and the devoted work of K. N. Dikshit, one of the senior officers of the Survey, and others achieved the tremendous result to clarify the whole structure of the Vihara. Continued excavation and conservation activities showed that the degradation was becoming a problem, so the Government of Bangladesh started to request assistance and contribution to such kinds of activities from international resources. At the 21st UNESCO General Conference held in November 1980, a resolution was adopted to take up the ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur and the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat, Bangladesh, as target heritage sites for the UNESCO's international campaign to safeguard the cultural heritage. In accordance with this decision a UNESCO mission visited Bangladesh from February through March 1982 with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a master plan for the conservation of both heritage sites was completed in 1983. The international safeguarding campaign officially commenced in 1985 when Paharpur Buddhist Vihara was included in the World Heritage List.