Lumbini, Birthplace of Buddha is a new and joint publication of UNESCO and the Paris-based NGO Oriental Cultural Heritage Sites Protection Alliance.  The effort brought together eight photographers: three from Nepal and five from around the world who used their vision to capture the uniqueness of this World Heritage Site which has long been a sacred place for many pilgrims.  The result is a collection of over two hundred photographs depicting seven distinct themes of knowledge, beliefs, people, nature, spaces and dangers. Each theme is introduced by a short text written by national and international personalities affiliated with Lumbini. The national launch for Lumbini, Birthplace of Buddha will be in Kathmandu on 31 October, 2013, followed by a planned international unveiling at the U.N. Headquarters in New York in the spring of 2014.

Lumbini, set in the fertile plains of Nepal’s Terai region, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997, and is universally regarded as the place where Buddha was born.  As one of the most sacred sites significant to Buddha’s life and path to enlightenment, the Sacred Garden of Lumbini has been a center of pilgrimage for devout followers from as early as the 3rd century B.C.