These ASI Monuments Will Be Lit Up For A Week. Here's Why

One hundred centrally protected monuments are being illuminated for a week from December 1 to 7 as India assumes the G20 presidency for a year.&nbspThe move is part of the branding and publicity plan for the ASI monuments during the G20, with a special emphasis on UNESCO World Heritage sites, according to an office memorandum of the Archaeological Survey of India, which is the nodal body protecting heritage monuments. The G20 logo will be highlighted over the monuments.&nbspAt Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fathepur Sikri &ndash all three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the logo will be projected on a unipole installed near the sites.

Through the G20 year, several high-level delegates from other countries shall be visiting centrally-protected monuments. &ldquoIt has been decided by the Government of lndia to utilise this opportunity to highlight our monuments as part of brand and publicity plan of G20 at ASI protected monuments and sites with special focus on sites in the UNESCO World Heritage list,&rdquo says a memorandum issued by the ASI.

The monuments which will be lit up include&nbspthe Shankaracharya temple in Srinagar, the Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb and Purana Quila in Delh, Thanjavur's Great Living Chola temples, the Modhera Sun Temple in Gujarat, the Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, Sher Shah Suri's Tomb in Bihar, the Jageshwar temple in Uttarakhand, Hazarduari palace in Murshidabad in West Bengal, the Ancient Palace of Leh,&nbspMetcalfe Hall and Currency Building in Kolkata, Nalanda University ruins and ancient structures and other monuments at Rajgir in Bihar, Basilica of Bom Jesus and Church of Lady of Rosary in Goa, Tipu Sultan&rsquos Palace and the Gol Gumbaz in Karnataka and Sanchi Buddhist monuments and Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh. 

The Archaeological Survey of India is responsible for the majority of the 40 cultural and natural sites in India that have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites (ASI).

Over the year, as part of the G20 presidency, India will host more than 200 meetings in&nbsp50 cities across the country,&nbspfrom December 1, 2022, to November 30, 2023.