The havelis of Rajasthan, forgotten by time, may finally get their due

Shekhawati’s painted architecture takes a step towards global recognition with its addition to UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Shekhawati has often been described as an open-air art gallery.

Kesariya balam, aavo ni,padharo mhare des…
Come, beloved traveller, come to my land.

Few lines capture Rajasthan quite like this old invitation. For generations, it has welcomed travellers to a land of colour, memory, and hospitality. Today, as the painted haveli towns of Shekhawati find a place on UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites, that invitation seems to carry a new resonance. The world is being asked to look again—and look more closely—at a remarkable inheritance that has been hiding in plain sight.

Some places remain with you long after you have physically left them. For me, Shekhawati is not just a region on the map of Rajasthan. It is a landscape of belonging and identity. I was born in Churu, in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, and therefore the news that the painted haveli towns of Shekhawati have been added to UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites carries deep personal significance. It is a moment of pride, not merely because a part of Rajasthan has received international attention, but because a forgotten chapter of India’s cultural history is finally being acknowledged.

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“The inclusion of Shekhawati’s historic havelis in UNESCO’s Tentative List strengthens our efforts to preserve this extraordinary heritage and present it to the world, while also creating new opportunities for heritage tourism and local communities,” said Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari.

For generations, the magnificent havelis of Shekhawati have stood quietly amidst the desert landscape—their walls narrating stories of enterprise, migration, art, ambition, and human imagination. They have witnessed centuries of change around them. They have seen merchants leave for distant cities, businesses grow in other cities, new technologies arrive, and entire ways of life transform. Yet, through all these changes, the walls remained. The paintings remained. The memories remained.

The inclusion of Shekhawati’s painted haveli towns on UNESCO’s Tentative List is not the culmination of a journey, but an important renewal. It places this extraordinary heritage landscape on a global platform and begins a process through which it can potentially move towards becoming a World Heritage Site.

An open-air art gallery created by merchants

Shekhawati has often been described as an open-air art gallery, and rightly so. Spread across parts of Churu, Jhunjhunu, and Sikar districts, the region contains some of India’s most remarkable examples of merchant architecture. The UNESCO proposal identifies a serial nomination covering 14 historic towns, including Churu, Mandawa, Nawalgarh, Fatehpur, Ramgarh and Jhunjhunu. Together, these towns represent a unique combination of architecture, urban planning, fresco traditions, and mercantile history.

What makes Shekhawati extraordinary is not just individual havelis. It is the larger cultural ecosystem they represent.

Between the 18th and early 20th centuries, the region became prosperous because of its position along important trade routes. The rise of Marwari merchant communities transformed these towns. Successful businessmen who had established themselves across India and beyond returned to their hometowns and invested their wealth in creating grand residences, temples, wells, chhatris, and public structures. These were not merely houses. They were statements of identity.