The core ashram area of the Visva-Bharati campus in Santiniketan, which remained shut to tourists for almost six years, has been reopened for outsiders, the newly appointed vice-chancellor of the central university Prabir Kumar Ghosh said on Friday.
Ghosh decided to throw open the campus to tourists within 24 hours of assuming the VC’s office.
“I joined on Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday), I granted permission to open the entire varsity campus, which is a world heritage site (recognised by Unesco), for tourists and visitors,” Ghosh said on Friday.
In September 2023, Unesco conferred the world heritage status on Visva-Bharati. On Thursday, the VC held a meeting of the varsity’s heritage committee and granted permission to open the campus to outsiders, sources said.
Ghosh, however, underscored aspects of heritage would be protected while opening the campus to outsiders. Earlier, tourists could walk through the varsity campus and visit the heritage buildings of the institution that was set up by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921. Their entry was allowed after 2pm when classes were over at Patha Bhavana, a school on the campus.
However, during the Covid-19 pandemic, restrictions were imposed on the entry of tourists and visitors into the campus. Even after the pandemic, the then vice-chancellor, Bidyut Chakraborty, didn’t withdraw the controversial restrictions.
“As a result, hundreds of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Santiniketan could not enter the campus to see the heritage buildings and other structures. It is an important decision that the present VC has made,” said a senior faculty member of Visva-Bharati.
On Friday, Ghosh attended an international seminar on world heritage and tourism at the central administrative building on the campus.
“The university is a living heritage site. I granted permission yesterday so that people from across the country and abroad can visit the site. I will work on Tagore’s ideology and have made the decision,” the VC said on the sidelines of the seminar.
He said the decision to open the campus to tourists had its roots in the need to link heritage with tourism.
“It is a matter of pride that the varsity has a heritage. We have to draw up proper plans to link tourism with heritage and simultaneously put impetus for its conservation,”
he added.
Ghosh’s decision has been welcomed by people from different walks of life.
“The decision to open the heritage area to tourists is welcome. However, the university administration must ensure that open-air classes and the sanctity of the heritage site remain undisturbed,” said Sudripta Tagore, a descendant of the Tagore family
in Santiniketan.
Tanushree Banerjee, a school teacher from Calcutta who frequently visits Santiniketan, also appreciated the university’s decision. “I last visited the area during my college days. It has now been declared a world heritage site. If it reopens to tourists, it will bring joy to people like me.”