New Delhi: The historic walled city of Jaipur, the capital of India's Rajasthan, received the status of a Unesco World Heritage Site on Saturday.
The decision was taken at the 43rd session of the Unesco World Heritage Committee, which is taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan from June 20 to July 10.
In addition to Jaipur, the Committee examined 36 nominations for inscription on Unesco's World Heritage List during the session.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the move and tweeted: "Jaipur is a city associated with culture and valour. Elegant and energetic, Jaipur's hospitality draws people from all over. Glad that this city has been inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO."
Jaipur was founded in 1727 CE under the patronage of Sawai Jai Singh II.
The city was proposed to be nominated for its value of being an exemplary development in town planning and architecture that demonstrates an amalgamation and important exchange of ideas in the late medieval period, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) had said.
"In town planning, it shows an interchange of ancient Hindu, Mughal and contemporary Western ideas that resulted in the form of the city."
Jaipur City is also an exceptional example of a late medieval trade town in South Asia and defined new concepts for a thriving trade and commercial hub. In addition, the city is associated with living traditions in the form of crafts that have national and international recognition, the international body added.
The World Heritage Committee is also examining the state of conservation of 166 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, 54 of which also figure on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
To date, 1,092 sites in 167 countries have been inscribed on the World Heritage List.