Guwahati, Sept. 5 -- Assam's historic Rangpur-Sivasagar landscape has taken a step closer to possible UNESCO World Heritage status after the Rangpur-Sivasagar Historic Ensemble was submitted to UNESCO's Tentative List as a cultural heritage site.

The nomination, submitted by India, covers the historic landscape of present-day Sivasagar district and has been proposed under UNESCO criteria recognising exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition and outstanding examples of architecture, technology and landscape planning.

The ensemble represents the political and ceremonial heart of the Ahom kingdom, which ruled the Brahmaputra Valley for around six centuries. It brings together royal palaces, temples, monumental tanks, fortified structur...