Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan’s membership in Nakhon Si Thammarat is approved by the Cabinet.
PUBLISHED: 28 Jan 2025 at 16: 22
Twelve years after it was first put on a preliminary list, the government approved an application to designate Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat as a Unesco world heritage site.
Local people were pleased that Tuesday’s decision came after the World Heritage Committee had been waiting for a while since the temple’s inclusion on the cautious record in 2013, according to Chaichana Dechdecho, an MP for the southwestern state and deputy party leader.
He thanked Chalermchai Sri-on, the Democrat Party president and secretary of natural resources, for bringing the plan before the case.
He said the next step is to send the standard documents to the World Heritage Centre in Paris by February 1 so that the church can be included in the 2025 square.
By March 1, the World Heritage Committee of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) will release the results of Thailand’s application.
The Unesco Expert Committee did receive the plan once it has passed this stage for further analysis. Committee members may check the site in earlier 2026 before making their final recommendation.
The church, which was constructed in the 13th century CE, is a historical heritage site that highlights the close relationship between Brahmin-Hindu, Mahayana Buddhism, and Theravada Buddhism in sea Southeast Asia.
The site has been used for religious purposes continuously for roughly 1,200 years, and it is a gateway for a diverse range of beliefs, showing how close a relation exists between the sacred place and the nearby communities is.