🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Beishan Grottoes Dazu
Tang to Southern Song · Late Tang to Song Sichuan Buddhist (Wei Junjing to Zhao Zhifeng line)
UNESCO Beishan's 290-niche scholar's cliff 2 km north of Dazu with Song filial piety reliefs.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Sanchi Stupa Complex
Maurya to Gupta, 3rd c. BCE–5th c. CE, Great Stupa Ashoka 260 BCE expanded 2nd c. BCE · Buddhist (Maurya, Shunga, Satavahana, Gupta)
Ashokan hemispherical stupa with four sculpted torana gateways - genesis of Buddhist architecture.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Yungang West Cave 20
Northern Wei (Northern Dynasties) · Northern Wei royal Buddhist (Toba Wei imperial atelier under Tanyao)
13.7-m open-fronted seated Buddha of Yungang's Five Tanyao west series — most iconic Wei colossus.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Bamyan Buddhas
Late Buddhist Gandhara–Tokharistan 5th–10th c; Hun–Turk Shahi patronage · Gandhara–Sogdian Buddhist (Hindu Kush)
55 m and 38 m colossal Buddhas on Bamyan canyon (544–644 CE) — 1000 caves, oil murals, UNESCO 208.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Caves (Bezeklik precursor)
Six Dynasties to Tang ~300–800 CE · Tocharian Kuchean Buddhist with Gandharan influence
Kucha's 236 lapis-blue Jataka caves - China's earliest Buddhist grottoes on the Silk Road.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Xanthos-Letoon
Bronze Age to Byzantine (peak Classical Lycian 6th–4th c. BCE and Roman) · Lycian (Anatolian Indo-European) → Persian satrapy → Hellenistic → Roman
Lycian capital Xanthos and marsh sanctuary Letoon — trilingual stele solved Lycian.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Dazu Beishan Rock Carvings — Chongqing Northern Mountain Gallery
Late Tang to Southern Song (892 – 1178 CE) · Chinese Buddhist with Song gentry patron
Beishan 264 caves with 10k slender Song statues 892–1178 at Dazu north hill.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms → Qing 420–1911 · Buddhist (Hexi Silk Road)
Yellow River gorge sanctuary of 183 caves and 694 statues cut into 60 m yellow sandstone cliff above reservoir since 420 CE (Western Qin) to Qing, famous for 27 m Maitreya Buddha (Tang) carved from…
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Masada — Desert Fortress of Herod
Hasmonean to Roman (2nd c. BCE–73 CE; Herodian peak) · Hasmonean Jewish → Herodian (Idumaean-Jewish client of Rome) → Sicarii → Roman legion → Byzantine monks
Herod's 440 m mesa fortress over Dead Sea — hanging palaces, desert cisterns and preserved Roman siege ramp.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Yungang Grottoes — Western Caves Extension (Caves 26–40)
Northern Dynasties (Northern Wei late) · Tuoba Wei (Xianbei) Buddhist with Han artisan school
UNESCO Yungang western 15-cave zone 494–525 with central-pillar and collapsed colossus.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Caves — Western Valley Extension (Western Kizil)
Early Medieval Central Asian (Tocharian B) · Tocharian Buddhist (Kucha Kingdom) with Gandhara influence
Kucha Tocharian western 42-cave valley 400–700 CE diamond ceilings and lapis blue, German-removal archive.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Ancient city
Aphrodisias
Late Bronze Age to Byzantine (c.3000 BCE–12th century CE; peak Julio-Claudian to Severan) · Carian → Hellenistic Greek → Roman → Byzantine
Aphrodite's marble city with 30,000-seat stadium, Tetrapylon and Sebasteion reliefs.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Beishan Niche Complex — Dazu Extension Eastern Valley
Tang to Song (Late Tang Wei Junjing phase to Southern Song) · Sichuan Buddhist gentry (Dazu artisan guilds)
Dazu UNESCO eastern valley 150 niches Tang–Song 892–1169 with Avalokitesvara transformation.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Mogao Northern Caves — Dunhuang Oasis North Cliff Monastic Cells
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan (366 – 1368 CE) northern cells 960–1300 · Buddhist monastic Dunhuang oasis international
North cliff austere monastic cells 1000–1300 CE opposite southern painted scripture halls.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments
Pallava dynasty 630–700 CE · Hindu (Shaiva) under Pallava
Pallava seaside rock-cut trials: Shore Temple surviving tsunami and 27-m bas relief.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Yungang Western Cliffs — Datong Grottoes West End Caves
Northern Wei to Liao (453 – 525 CE peak) · Buddhist Tanyao imperial under Emperor Wencheng
Western 5 caves 40–45 with Tanyao Buddhas 15 m of Northern Wei Pingcheng capital.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Dazu Rock Carvings
Tang to Southern Song ~650–1252 CE · Chinese esoteric Buddhist (Tang–Song)
50,000 Tantric cliff sculptures — China's last Buddhist rock-cut synthesis at Baoding.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Elephanta Caves
Late Gupta to Early Chalukya 5th–8th century CE · Hindu (Shaiva) and Buddhist under Kalachuri/Chalukya patronage
Rock-cut Shaiva cave complex on Elephanta Island with colossal Trimurti sculpture, 5th–8th c. CE.