🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Ephesus Arsinoeion-Octagon — Sanctuary Terrace of Arsinoe
Hellenistic to Roman (288 BCE – 262 CE) · Ptolemaic to Roman Ephesian
Curetes terrace with 36 m Arsinoeion rotunda and Octagon princess tomb.
🇨🇳 China · Megalith
Leshan Giant Buddha
Tang Dynasty 713–803 CE · Tang Chinese Buddhist (Maitreya cult)
71 m seated Maitreya monolith (713–803 CE) carved into Lingyun red sandstone cliff at confluence of Min and Dadu rivers, largest premodern Buddha worldwide.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Yagul Archaeological Zone
Zapotec Postclassic 1250–1521 CE · Zapotec (Tlacolula valley)
Zapotec hill-fortress Palace Six Patios 1250–1400 CE, UNESCO 2010.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
Pallava Dynasty 580–728 CE (Mamalla and Rajasimha phases) · Tamil / Pallava Hindu (Shaiva/Vaishnava)
Pallava (7th–8th c CE) coastal temple town with 40 rock-cut shrines: Shore Temple granite seaside, Five Rathas monolithic chariot-temples cut from single boulders, Arjuna's Penance 27 m bas-relief,…
🇰🇭 Cambodia · Temple complex
Angkor Wat
Khmer Empire, early Angkor period 1113–1150 CE · Khmer (Hindu then Theravada Buddhist)
Vishnuite then Buddhist temple-mountain and world's largest religious monument (162.6 ha), built early 12th century by Suryavarman II as state temple and center of Khmer Empire; oriented west with…
🇪🇹 Ethiopia · Temple complex
Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
Zagwe dynasty · Ethiopian Orthodox
11 medieval monolithic rock-cut churches chiselled from tuff into trenches, connected by tunnels, built for King Lalibela as New Jerusalem pilgrimage site; UNESCO 1978.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto & Bulguksa Temple
Silla Unified · Silla (Kim Dae-seong)
Seokguram Grotto & Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea is a Silla Unified temple complex attributed to Silla (Kim Dae-seong) culture. Inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (ID 736).
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Sun Temple, Konârak
Eastern Ganga · Gangesvara Eastern Ganga (Narasimhadeva I)
Sun Temple, Konârak in Odisha, India is a Eastern Ganga temple complex attributed to Gangesvara Eastern Ganga (Narasimhadeva I) culture. Inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (ID 246).
🇲🇲 Myanmar · Temple complex
Bagan
Pagan Kingdom 1044–1287 CE (Bagan period 11th–13th century) · Bamar / Burmese Buddhist (Theravada)
Sacred landscape on Irrawaddy River bend with over 2,200 surviving Buddhist temples, stupas and monasteries from 11th–13th century Pagan Kingdom; at peak >10,000 structures, including Ananda,…
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Khajuraho Group of Temples
Chandela · Chandela Rajput
Khajuraho Group of Temples in Madhya Pradesh, India is a Chandela temple complex attributed to Chandela Rajput culture. Inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site (ID 240).
🇨🇱 Chile · Megalith
Rapa Nui National Park (Easter Island Moai)
Rapa Nui Period 900–1500 CE; ahu construction 1000–1600 CE · Rapa Nui (Polynesian)
Remote Polynesian island 3,700 km west of Chile with nearly 900 basalt moai monoliths (up to 10 m, 86 t, one unfinished 270 t) carved 900–1500 CE at Rano Raraku tuff quarry and erected on stone ahu…
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Jameh Mosque of Isfahan
mosque in Isfahan, Iranian national heritage site and World heritage site
🇧🇬 Bulgaria · Temple complex
Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo
UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ruse Province, Bulgaria
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Temple complex
Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery near Ripon in North Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1132 under the direction of Thurstan, archbishop of York, and over the next four centuries…
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Gebel Barkal Temple B500 Terrace Annex — Southern Extension
New Kingdom-Napatan (1500-500 BCE) · Napatan
Gebel Barkal Temple B500 Terrace Annex — Southern Extension in Northern State, Karima, Sudan is a New Kingdom-Napatan (1500-500 BCE) temple complex attributed to Napatan.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Temple complex
Gebel Barkal Temple B500 Terrace Annex
New Kingdom-Napatan (1500-500 BCE) · Napatan
Gebel Barkal Temple B500 Terrace Annex in Northern State, Karima, Sudan is a New Kingdom-Napatan (1500-500 BCE) temple complex attributed to Napatan.
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Bingling Temple South Cave 169
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang · Western Qin to Tang Buddhist (Bingling synthesis)
South partition of monumental natural Cave 169 with 384 Sui–Tang niches and Tang donor cartouche.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Archaeological wonder
Mitla
Postclassic 900–1521 CE (Mitla peak 1200–1520, Post-Monte Albán valley floor relocation) · Zapotec + Mixtec (Mixe-Zapotec, later Aztec tributary; Zapotec Lyobaa)
Postclassic Zapotec-Mixtec mortuary city and living palace center (900–1521 CE) abutting Monte Albán collapse population shift to valley floor: unparalleled geometric fret mosaic (grecas) facades…
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Hiraizumi (Chūson-ji)
Heian–Kamakura 1087–1189 CE (Fujiwara Ōshu) · Northern Fujiwara (Ōshu) — Frontier Pure Land Buddhist
Hiraizumi — northern Fujiwara capital (1087–1189 CE) 35 km south Morioka, Iwate Hiraizumi, excavated 1950s–2010s.
🇵🇪 Peru · Archaeological wonder
Chankillo — Second Thirteen Towers Sector
Early Horizon–Early Intermediate Casma Sechín 250–200 BCE · Casma/Sechín (Punkurí tradition)
Second Thirteen Towers line 400 m east of famous solar observatory, with observing building and bastions.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Hoysaleswara Temple Halebidu
Hoysala Empire 1121–1160 CE · Hoysala Hindu (Karnataka)
Hoysaleswara (1121–1160) – Hoysala double shrine (Shiva Hoysaleswara/Shantaleswara) on jagati platform with Dvikuta plan: stellate (star-shaped) 16-point vimanas, lathe-turned chloritic schist…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Rock art
Yazılıkaya Hittite Sanctuary
Late Bronze Age, Hittite Empire (~1300–1180 BCE; refurbished under Tudhaliya IV) · Hittite (Hatti–Hurrian)
Two natural limestone chambers behind Hattusa where 90 reliefs carved into living rock depict the Hurrian–Hittite pantheon procession: Chamber A shows 12 underworld gods, sword-god Nergal and the…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Kizil Central Cave — Kuqa Muzat River Diamond Pattern Sanctuary
Eastern Han to Tang (200 – 800 CE) · Tocharian Buddhist Kucha with Gandhara influence
Central 30–80 of 339 Kizil caves with 3.2 m diamond-vault Buddha of Tocharian Kucha 3rd–8th c.
🇨🇳 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.