Srinagar becomes the 6th Indian city to be recognised by UNESCO as a 'creative city'
After Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Varanasi, and Jaipur now Srinagar has made it to the list of UNESCO Network of Creative Cities (UCCN) owing to its ecstatic folk art and inimitable crafts.
Created in 2004 to promote cooperation with and among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development, UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) enlists 246 cities as of now which currently make up this network work together towards a common objective: placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.
There are chiefly seven fields in which UNESCO assigns the tag of the creative cities such as craft, folk art, media arts, film design, gastronomy, literature, and music. It entertains applications every year from various cities across the globe for putting them under the UCCN project. Generally, applications are routed through the Ministry of Culture.
The other cities which have received the recognition in past in various cultural disciplines are Chennai and Varanasi- UNESCO cities of music, Jaipur- UNESCO city of crafts and folk arts, Mumbai- UNESCO city of film, and Hyderabad which is listed for gastronomy.
Apart from the mystical beauty of the city accentuated by the bobbing scintillating Shikaras on the dal lake, there is no revealing any secrets that it is celebrated for its traditional Kashmiri handicrafts like paper-mâché craft, walnut woodcarving, Sakhta work (Naqqashi) carpet making, shawls, and also dried fruits.
Tourists from all over the world flock to the city to lay their hands on the finest and authentic Pashmina shawls, carpets, hand-woven rugs, woolen items, embroidered jackets, Phirhan, scarves, wood carvings, etc. Traditionally, the designs are heavily influenced by Persian, Mughal, and even Tibetan art forms.
A land that offers a fusion of many cultures and religions. The city also commands some of the vibrant performing arts like traditional Bhand Pather — a type of theater where dance and play are combined in satire form which is accompanied by sonorous tunes of traditional instruments like sarangi, Graha, rabab, and harmonium.
Image source: Kashmirpost