Shekhawati's Painted Havelis: the Merchant Mansions on UNESCO's Tentative List

The Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati, fourteen merchant towns in the semi-arid region of north-eastern Rajasthan, were placed on UNESCO's Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in September 2026. Their havelis are courtyard houses whose walls and ceilings are covered in frescoes, a record of a merchant society that grew rich on long-distance trade between the 18th and early 20th centuries and painted its prosperity on its own walls.

The news: fourteen towns step toward World Heritage

On 5 September 2026 the Rajasthan government announced that the Painted Haveli Towns of Shekhawati had been included in UNESCO's Tentative List. India's Permanent Delegation to UNESCO had submitted the serial nomination on 1 June 2026. It was one of four Indian properties added to the list in 2026, taking India's Tentative List to 73 properties at that point.

The entry is listed as a cultural property under reference number 7028, proposed under cultural criteria (iii), (iv) and (v). Criterion (iii) covers exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition, criterion (iv) an outstanding example of a type of building or settlement, and criterion (v) a traditional human settlement vulnerable to irreversible change.

The distinction matters for prelims. A place on the Tentative List is an inventory of properties a country may consider for future nomination. It does not confer World Heritage status, and a property must generally be on the Tentative List before it can be nominated for the World Heritage List. India has 44 properties on the World Heritage List.

Where Shekhawati is, and how it got its name

Shekhawati is a semi-arid region in north-eastern Rajasthan, spread across the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu. It is named after Rao Shekha, a 15th-century Rajput chieftain of the Kachhwaha dynasty of Amber, who founded the region's ruling line.

The region grew along historical caravan trade routes that linked the arid hinterland of Rajasthan with trading centres across the subcontinent. Marwari merchants who made their fortunes on those routes, and later in the port cities, returned to build grand mansions in their home towns as symbols of prosperity and social standing.

The havelis: courtyards, jharokhas and painted walls

A Shekhawati haveli is a merchant residence built around one or more spacious courtyards, with decorated facades, carved wooden entrances and projecting balconies known as jharokhas. The outer walls, inner courtyards and ceilings are covered in frescoes, which is why the towns are often called the world's largest open-air art gallery.

The paintings were made by local painters called chiteras, working in mineral and vegetable pigments on lime-plastered surfaces, using fresco-secco and araish techniques. Their subjects run from religious and mythological narratives, folk stories, portraits and royal scenes to depictions of everyday life. Some murals also show the modern inventions of the 19th and early 20th centuries, trains and motorcars, which dates the paintings as surely as any inscription.

The fourteen towns

Of the thirty-eight towns in Shekhawati with similar characteristics, the nomination covers historic ensembles in fourteen, chosen as a culturally coherent group shaped by shared ecology, merchant communities and long-distance trade.

What is at risk, and what is being done

The listing comes at a moment when the havelis are under threat. Many are crumbling as merchant families have moved away, and many remain private homes with absent owners. A 2024 survey of Nawalgarh found six of the sixty havelis it documented already destroyed.

On 11 February 2026 the Rajasthan government allocated Rs 200 crore over two years for the Shekhawati Haweli Conservation Scheme, covering more than 600 havelis in Jhunjhunu, Churu and Sikar. The scheme funds facade improvement, heritage street furniture and cleaning facilities, and the state hopes it will help secure a UNESCO heritage tag and boost tourism. Some havelis are already being converted into heritage hotels, with Mandawa as the model.

Tentative List, nomination and inscription: the road ahead

From the Tentative List, the road to inscription runs through a full nomination dossier, with a management plan and proof that the property is protected. The dossier is evaluated by the advisory body for cultural properties, and the World Heritage Committee takes the final decision. Few tentative properties are inscribed quickly, and some never are, so the 2026 listing is best read as the start of a long process rather than its end.

For India the listing adds a new kind of cultural property to the pipeline. Most of India's 44 World Heritage properties are single monuments or archaeological sites. Shekhawati is a living merchant landscape, fourteen inhabited towns whose value lies in the ensemble rather than in any one building.

Prelims practice