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Browse sanctuaries, sacred precincts, and ceremonial landscapes built for worship, procession, offerings, and encounters with the divine.
001
Two rock-cut temples for Ramesses II. In the 1960s, the entire complex was sawed apart and relocated to escape Lake Nasser.
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002
Largest religious structure ever built by area. A microcosm of Hindu cosmology, later converted to Buddhist use.
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003
Plain studded with over 2,000 surviving Buddhist temples. The kingdom that built it was sacked by Mongol forces.
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004
Pink sandstone temple with carving so fine and intricate it is sometimes called "the art gallery of Angkor."
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005
216 carved stone faces stare from 54 towers at the centre of Angkor Thom. Whose faces, exactly, is still debated.
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006
Mahayana Buddhist temple of nine stacked platforms, abandoned for centuries beneath volcanic ash. Largest Buddhist monument in the world.
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007
Chola dynasty temple in Thanjavur. Its 80-tonne capstone was reportedly hauled up a six-kilometre earthen ramp.
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008
Truncated pyramid temple on the slopes of Mount Lawu. Erotic reliefs and Mesoamerican-looking architecture in central Java.
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009
Andean ceremonial centre with a network of stone galleries beneath. The Lanzón monolith stands inside, never exposed to sunlight.
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010
Best-preserved Elamite ziggurat. Built by Untash-Napirisha, then partially destroyed by Ashurbanipal of Assyria.
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011
Only surviving Greco-Roman colonnaded structure in the former Soviet Union. Toppled by an earthquake in 1679, rebuilt in the 1970s.
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012
Older than Stonehenge and the pyramids. Megalithic temples on Gozo built when, by legend, giants walked the islands.
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013
T-shaped megalithic enclosures predating agriculture, pottery, and writing. Deliberately buried by its builders around 8000 BCE.
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014
Built from globigerina limestone, including a single block weighing 20 tonnes. Now sheltered beneath a tensile membrane roof.
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015
Justinian's basilica. Cathedral, mosque, museum, mosque again. The dome's design baffled engineers for centuries.
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016
Largest temple in ancient Korea, with a nine-storey wooden pagoda 80 metres tall. Burned by the Mongols in 1238.
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017
Sandstone butte with a freestanding pinnacle, sacred to Egyptians and Kushites alike. Temples to Amun cut into its cliff base.
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018
Sister site to Göbekli Tepe. A subterranean chamber holds 11 monolithic pillars carved out of bedrock.
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019
Largest religious complex ever built. The Hypostyle Hall contains 134 columns, some 21 metres tall. Constructed across 2,000 years.
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020
Cluster of Hindu and Jain temples covered in intricate sculpture, including the famously erotic carvings on the outer walls.
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021
Stone chariot of the sun god Surya, drawn by seven horses on twelve carved wheels. Each wheel is also a working sundial.
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022
Built primarily by Amenhotep III and Ramesses II. Connected to Karnak by an avenue of sphinxes recently fully excavated.
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023
Pallava-era seaside temples and rock-cut monuments, including Arjuna's Penance, one of the largest open-air bas-reliefs in the world.
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024
Hindu temple complex of the Champa kingdom. Heavy bombing damage during the Vietnam War levelled the central tower group.
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025
Hadrian's reconstruction of an earlier temple. The world's largest unreinforced concrete dome for 1,300 years.
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026
Temple of Athena Parthenos atop the Acropolis. Damaged by Venetian artillery in 1687 when it served as an Ottoman gunpowder store.
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027
Trio of Hindu spires dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. Toppled by an earthquake in the 16th century, partially restored.
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028
Earliest surviving Buddhist stone monument, commissioned by Ashoka. The dome is encircled by gateways carved with scenes from the Buddha's life.
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029
Granite cave temple containing one of the finest Buddha images in East Asia, oriented to face the sunrise over the East Sea.
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030
Limestone temple east of the Sphinx, built from blocks weighing up to 100 tonnes. Never finished, function debated.
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031
Khmer temple intentionally left swallowed by silk-cotton trees. Roots and stone are now structurally inseparable.
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032
Seat of the Pythia, oracle of the ancient world. Built atop a fissure venting hydrocarbon gases, possibly the source of her trances.
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033
One of the Seven Wonders. Burned by an arsonist in 356 BCE on the night Alexander the Great was born. A single column survives.
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034
Mortuary temple of Egypt's most successful female pharaoh, terraced into the cliffs of Deir el-Bahari.
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035
Construction took over 600 years. Once the largest temple in Greece; only fifteen of its 104 colossal columns remain standing.
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036
Eight surviving columns at the western end of the Forum. Once held the Roman state treasury.
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037
Stepped pyramid covered in carvings of feathered serpents and storm-gods. Excavations beneath revealed sacrificial burials.
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038
Aztec capital and twin pyramid, dismantled by the Spanish to build Mexico City on top of it. Excavated since 1978.
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039
Granite-and-alabaster temple beside the Sphinx, where Khafre's body was prepared for burial. Some of the largest dressed stones in any Egyptian structure.
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040
Maya city above an oxbow bend in the Usumacinta. Famous for its carved limestone lintels with hieroglyphic narratives.
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041
Three-tiered Armenian cathedral that collapsed in the 10th century. Its ruined drum was the inspiration for the cathedral of Ani.
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