Ranigat

Ranigat in the Buner District

The archaeological site of Ranigat, meaning "Queen's Rock" is located in Totalai in the Buner District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Site description

Tomb of Rani

The site of Ranigat is situated on the top of a ridge, where the remains of the region's largest Buddhist monastic complex reside. Structures on the site include stupas, monasteries, shrines, drainage networks, and other buildings. Ranigat is a 2500-year-old Buddhist archaeological site belonging to the Gandhara civilization and is a good evidence of the Buddhist past of the area. The site can be reached by climbing the stairs constructed by the Japanese. The main attractions include; Stupas, monasteries, drainage systems and a big rock erected by the ancient people at some distance that they probably used to worship. The city was beautifully designed and stones from the local mountains have been extensively used. Ranigat is easily accessible through M1 or (Motorway) or N35. It is about 20 km away from Swabi and 100 km from Peshawar or Islamabad. Under excavation by a joint UNESCO-Japanese team since the 1980s, the site has had issues related to vandalism. The site is now under surveillance and is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. .

World Heritage status

This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on January 30, 2004 in the Cultural category.

See also

UNESCO Report on Ranigat

• Takht Bhai (Another historic site)

References

• Archaeological Site of Ranigat - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Retrieved 2009-03-03.
• Ranigat: 2nd to 6th Century AD Retrieved 2009-03-03.