🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Abu Mena
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
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🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Uruk Anu Ziggurat — Warka
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, Uruk period (4000–3000 BCE) · Sumerian (Ubaid–Uruk–Jemdet Nasr)
The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk-Warka is the oldest known true ziggurat (≈4000 BCE), a massive mudbrick terrace 21 m high in the Anu district. The famed White Temple (c.3500–3000 BCE) sat on summit.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Historic Centre of Bukhara
Samanid to Shaybanid 9th–16th c (settled from 1st c CE) · Samanid / Qarakhanid / Shaybanid Islamic (Persian)
2000-year-old Silk Road oasis city preserved as intact medieval Islamic townscape with 140+ monuments.
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Chavín de Huántar
Early Horizon / Formative 1200–500 BCE (Old Temple 1200–900, New Temple 750–500 BCE) · Chavín (Early Horizon Andean formative tradition, culmination of Kotosh-Urabarriu)
Andean Formative mother temple (1200–500 BCE) at 3,180 m near Cordillera Blanca with U-shaped Old Temple (1000×100 m) and New Temple Plaza, Lanzón monolith (4.53 m granite anthropomorphic feline with…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Anu Ziggurat and Eanna Precinct of Uruk
Uruk Period (c. 4000–3100 BCE) → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic; Anu ziggurat Late Uruk · Sumerian (Uruk)
Twin sacred precincts of world's first city Uruk (4000–3100 BCE): Anu District with White Temple ziggurat (21 m high limestone platform, U period) and Stone Cone Temple mosaic; Eanna District with…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Yungang Grottoes
Northern Wei 460–525 CE (Tanyao 460–465, later sinicized 471–524) · Xianbei Northern Wei Buddhist
45 major caves on 1-km sandstone cliff with 51,000 statues (460–524 CE) of Northern Wei before capital moved to Luoyang.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Eridu Ziggurat — Abu Shahrain
Ubaid through Ur III (c.5400–2000 BCE, ziggurat Ur III Amar-Sin) · Sumerian (Eridu / Ubaid type-site, Ur III)
Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain) is traditionally the first city of Sumer (King List) with an 18-level temple sequence from Ubaid small shrine (≈5400 BCE) to Ur III ziggurat of Amar-Sin.
🇦🇫 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.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Bishapur — Sassanid City and Anahita Temple
Sassanian Early (Shapur I–II, 241–379 CE) · Sassanian Persian with Roman–Palmyrene craftsmen (prisoners)
Shapur I 260 CE grid city by Roman POWs after Valerian capture — Anahita water temple, mosaics, Chogan gorge 6 reliefs.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
Xochicalco – Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl
Epiclassic Mesoamerica 650–900 CE · Post-Teotihuacan Central Mexican (Xochicalco–Cacaxtla sphere, Maya artists?)
Epiclassic hilltop city 650–900 CE after Teotihuacan fall: leveled ridge with 9-m high Quetzalcoatl Pyramid covered 360° with exquisitely carved plumed serpent panels intertwined with seated Maya…
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Ur
Ur III (Neo-Sumerian) 2112–2094 BCE core; Old Babylonian veneer · Sumerian (Ur III)
Best preserved neo-Sumerian ziggurat: three-stage mudbrick massif 62.5 × 43 m base, 30 m high (reconstructed), built by Ur-Nammu (2112–2095 BCE) and Shulgi for moon god Nanna (Sîn), with three…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Erechtheion — Acropolis of Athens
Late Classical (Peloponnesian War) · Classical Athenian
421–405 BCE asymmetric Ionic with Caryatids, housing Athena Polias and Poseidon-Erechtheus on Mycenaean terrace.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Musawwarat es-Sufra — Great Enclosure (Butana Steppe, Sudan)
Meroitic (300 BCE–350 CE) · Kushite (Meroitic)
Enigmatic Meroitic 3rd-century BCE–1st-century CE sandstone temple complex 25 km from Nile in Butana steppe, 180 km NE of Khartoum and 20 km north of Naqa.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Dağı)
Hellenistic Commagene (c.62 BCE under Antiochos I Theos) · Commagenian (Armenian/Greek/Persian syncretic) Hellenistic
Hierotheseion (tomb-sanctuary) of Antiochos I of Commagene (69–34 BCE), Nemrut Dağı tops 2,150 m peak with 50 m tumulus of crushed rock surrounded by three terraces bearing 8–10 m colossal seated…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple V
Early Late Classic c. 650–700 CE · Maya (Tikal)
Second tallest Tikal pyramid 57 m high south complex behind Palace: oldest of major Tikal temples (c. 650–700), with two talud-tablero influenced early masks and massive sheer limestone platform.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain)
Ubaid to Ur III (5400–2112 BCE; ziggurat Ur III 2112–2000 BCE) · Sumerian (Eridu, Ubaid → Uruk → Ur III)
Tell at supposed first Sumerian city Eridu, sacred to water god Enki/Ea (Abzu). Eighteen superimposed mudbrick temples (Ubaid 5400–3800 BCE) culminating in Ur III ziggurat (~250 × 300 m enclosure, 3…
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Temple complex
My Son Sanctuary
Champa Kingdom 4th–13th c CE (peak 7th–12th c) · Cham Hindu (Shaiva, formerly Champa)
Champa Hindu temple valley (4th–13th c CE) with 70 red-brick Shaiva towers (kalan) along Thu Bon River, the longest continuous Hindu-Byzantine tradition in Vietnam.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Gobekli Tepe Enclosure F Annex East — Eastern Outlier
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (9600-8800 BCE) · Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Gobekli Tepe Enclosure F Annex East — Eastern Outlier in Southeastern Anatolia, Sanliurfa, Turkey is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (9600-8800 BCE) temple complex attributed to Pre-Pottery Neolithic.
🇲🇹 Malta · Temple complex
Tarxien Central Temple Outlier Court — Western Terrace
Late Neolithic Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE) · Temple Period
Tarxien Central Temple Outlier Court — Western Terrace in Malta, Tarxien, Malta is a Late Neolithic Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE) temple complex attributed to Temple Period.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat Outer Court Annex — Western Terrace
Late Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE) · Elamite
Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat Outer Court Annex — Western Terrace in Khuzestan, Haft Tappeh, Iran is a Late Bronze Age (1500-1100 BCE) temple complex attributed to Elamite.
🇲🇹 Malta · Temple complex
Tarxien Central Temple Outlier Court — Northern Annex
Late Neolithic Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE) · Temple Period
Tarxien Central Temple Outlier Court — Northern Annex in Malta, Tarxien, Malta is a Late Neolithic Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE) temple complex attributed to Temple Period.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid
El Tajín – Pyramid of the Niches
Classic Veracruz (Epiclassic) 600–1200 CE · Classic Veracruz / Totonac (? predecessor)
Classic Veracruz capital 600–1200 CE with unique architectural style: 7-tier pyramid 18 m high (365 niches one per solar year, 365× depth shadows), flying cornices and scroll greca frieze, ballcourt…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple II (Temple of the Masks)
Late Classic Maya c. 700 CE (c. 734 dedication?) · Maya (Tikal)
Western twin of Temple I: 38 m high pyramid with temple summit south of Great Plaza (facing east toward Temple I), built for wife of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (Lady 12 Macaw).
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Xochicalco Archaeological Zone
Epiclassic 650–900 CE · Epiclassic central Mexican
Fortified hilltop Pyramid of Plumed Serpents, zenith cave, UNESCO 1999.