Champaner Pavagadh Archeological Park Vadodara

State : Gujrat
The Champaner- Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which lies at about 47 kilometres north-east of Vadodara in Gujarat. The site has many layers of history accumulated over 1,200 years in its cultural landscape. The site contains a collection of ruins, including those of the capital of the Gujarat state from the 16th century. The site also includes, among other vestiges, fortifications, palaces, religious buildings, residential precincts,agricultural structures and water installations, from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The site represents such cultures that have disappeared long back. The structures here presents a perfect blend of Hindu and Muslim architecture.

Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO as a cultural heritage at the 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee, scheduled from June 28 to July 7 in Suzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province in the year 2004.

• The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a superb example of a very short living Capital.

• The Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is a place of worship and continuous pilgrimage for Hindu believers.

• The unique cultural landscape of Champaner-Pavagadh is under threat of massive and rapid change brought about by the mushrooming of roadside development catering to the pilgrim traffic; and continuing environmental spoliation caused by quarrying, air pollution, and drought.

• Based on two site visits and design workshops between 2001-3, a team of faculty and students from the Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, together with Heritage Trust, Baroda, have proposed developing the site as an Archaeological Park and a Cultural Sanctuary.

• The site is the only complete and unchanged Islamic pre-Mughal city.

• The Kalikamata Temple on top of the Pavagadh Hill is considered to be an important shrine, attracting large numbers of pilgrims throughout the year.

• The city has been given a lot of attention by an architect named Karan Grover, who spent much time and effort in both trying to bring to restore and improve the condition of the city, but also help in the restoration of Indian heritage.