The illumination will be done for a period of seven days, until December 7, with the colours of India’s G20 logo — saffron, green, white and blue.
Starting Thursday, 100 monuments across the country will be illuminated with the G20 logo and its colours for seven days as India takes over the presidency of the international grouping.
The list of monuments drawn up by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to mark the occasion includes the Shankaracharya Temple in Srinagar, the Nalanda ruins in Bihar, the Purana Qila complex and Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi, the Modhera Sun temple and the ancient Dholavira site in Gujarat, the Tipu Sultan Palace in Bengaluru, the Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, the Chola temple of Thanjavur and the Konark Sun temple in Puri.
The illumination will be done for a period of seven days, until December 7, with the colours of India’s G20 logo — saffron, green, white and blue.
The Taj Mahal in Agra, despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will not be illuminated with the G20 logo. According to officials, the Taj Mahal is never illuminated since that could attract insects and damage the surface of the monument. “However, there could be some way to beam G20 logos close to the Taj Mahal complex,” officials said.
Agra, which is also home to other world heritage sites such as Fatehpur Sikri and Agra Fort, is slated to host two of the five G20 Cultural Track meetings during India’s G20 presidency. Srinagar has also been chosen as one of the locations to hold G20 meetings.
According to the ASI, since high-level dignitaries and delegates will be visiting the country, the government has decided to utilise this opportunity to highlight monuments, with a special focus on sites in the UNESCO World Heritage list.