Three of Nepal’s culturally significant sites are moving through the nomination process for inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. They are Tilaurakot, the ancient capital of the Shakya Kingdom, the historic town of Panauti, and the Ram Janaki Temple in Janakpur, and they sit among 15 Nepali sites currently on UNESCO’s Tentative List.
Progress varies across the three. Tilaurakot suffered a setback when the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Paris in 2025, declined to inscribe it. The Department of Archaeology is now preparing to resubmit its nomination file by 1 February 2027, and spokesperson Sandeep Khanal said that if it meets that deadline, the proposal would be taken up at the 49th session. For the Ram Janaki Temple, the department has fixed the monument’s boundary and forwarded a proposal to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, which will go to the Cabinet for approval. Panauti, like Ram Janaki, remains in the initial documentation phase, with specialist teams researching in coordination with local municipalities.
These nominations have been a long time coming, as Tilaurakot and Panauti have been on the Tentative List since 1996 and the Ram Janaki Temple since 2008. Tilaurakot is being advanced as an independent cultural property, while Janakpur and Panauti fall under broader cultural-site categories. A key boost came in February 2025 with the discovery of Nepal’s first apsidal Buddhist temple within the ancient city of Tilaurakot-Kapilvastu, described as one of the best-preserved early historic cities in South Asia and seen as strengthening the case for listing. Beyond these three, early discussions have begun on nominating Ajayamerukot in Dadeldhura, the Bhurti Temple Complex in Dailekh, Sinja Valley in Jumla and the Gorkha palace complex. Nepal currently holds only four World Heritage Sites: the cultural Kathmandu Valley and Lumbini, and the natural Chitwan and Sagarmatha National Parks.