Uttar Pradesh Tourism celebrates World Heritage Week with two citizen driven creative campaigns
To deepen public participation in heritage conservation and awareness, Uttar Pradesh Tourism has launched two citizen-led initiatives, UP Heritage Through My Lens and Share Your Personal Treasure, as part of World Heritage Week, leading up to World Heritage Day on April 18, aimed at encouraging people across age groups to document lesser-known heritage sites and personal cultural artefacts through visual storytelling and narratives.
In a press statement, UP Tourism says that the campaigns invite individuals across age groups to engage with heritage through visual storytelling and personal narratives, making it accessible for students, families, young creators, homemakers and local communities.
Jaiveer Singh
It adds that the first initiative, UP Heritage Through My Lens, encourages participants to capture lesser known or hidden heritage sites through photographs and short reels. Entries may include local temples, old stepwells, traditional market streets or lesser known forts and shrines that hold significance within communities but remain largely undocumented.
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“World Heritage Week is not only about celebrating monuments but about recognising the deeper cultural fabric that defines us. Through these initiatives, we want people, especially the younger generation, to engage with heritage in their own way and take pride in their roots,” says Jaiveer Singh, Tourism and Culture Minister, UP.
Amrit Abhijat
According to the statement, participants can take part using simple mobile photos or videos capturing architecture, rituals or daily life around heritage sites, making the initiative easy and accessible. Alongside this, Share Your Personal Treasure invites people to submit meaningful family or personal objects with a short story, such as old coins, letters, jewellery, utensils or vintage photographs. Together, both initiatives broaden the idea of heritage to include not only local sites but also personal and lived histories within homes.
“Such initiatives reflect a shift towards more participatory tourism, where people contribute to how heritage is documented and presented. He added that these documentation efforts also help identify places and cultural elements with strong local relevance, which can be gradually integrated into state’s broader tourism canvas,” says Amrit Abhijat, Chief Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Affairs, Uttar Pradesh.