Delhi Heritage City

In 2007, WMF and American Express awarded a grant to the historic city of Delhi for a network of heritage routes that will highlight Delhi’s rich history and help sustain it for the future.

Delhi contains an enormous number of important historic structures including the World Heritage sites of Qutb Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, and the Red Fort. Other significant monuments, such as the Old Fort and Jama Masjid, are on popular tourist circuits. Yet many more equally significant sites are buried within the modern city, neglected and largely forgotten. 

The Delhi Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has developed a plan to present Delhi as a “Heritage City.” This project will not only interpret and conserve individual monuments, but will also develop a framework to guide heritage conservation, urban development, tourism growth, and infrastructure planning. 

The Partners in Preservation grant will support an INTACH project to develop a heritage route beginning at Humayun’s Tomb, an elaborate Mughal-period complex built by the Emperor Humuyan’s widow in the sixteenth century, and ending at the Red Fort, an enormous Mughal palace that was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2007.

Clean-energy shuttle buses will streamline the flow of visitors and reduce congestion. The project also includes improved visitor amenities—education centers, street furniture, and lighting—that use environmentally responsible design.

Delhi Heritage City is part of WMF's Sustainable Tourism initiative.


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Other Sustainable Tourism projects:
• St. Paul’s Cathedral
• Mexico City Historic Center
• Historic Route 66


Press release


This project is part of the Partners in Preservation initiative, which focuses on preserving historic sites for future generations to enjoy.