UNESCO has placed the Hampi World Heritage Site — the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire's capital, abandoned in 1565 after military defeat — on its World Heritage in Danger List, triggering an emergency conservation response funded through a joint ₹450 crore programme from the Indian government, the Karnataka state government, and UNESCO's World Heritage Fund.

The danger listing cites three threats: illegal residential and commercial construction that has encroached on buffer zones, damage from the 2025 Tungabhadra river floods that compromised the structural integrity of the Virupaksha Temple tank and several chariot street structures, and inadequate site management capacity.

An emergency stabilisation programme will begin immediately, focusing on flood-damaged structures and the Lotus Mahal in the Royal Enclosure. The Archaeological Survey of India will receive additional technical staff specialised in historic masonry conservation and will deploy laser scanning technology to create the first comprehensive digital record of all 1,600 structures within the site.

The Hampi Foundation, which advocates for the site's conservation, welcomed the UNESCO intervention while noting that the danger listing is "both a warning and an opportunity. We have not protected this extraordinary place with the seriousness it deserves. That must change."