🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Tianlongshan Cave 8 — Manshan Pavilion Buddha Sanctuary
Eastern Wei to Tang (534 – 750 CE) · Buddhist Northern dynasties under Gao Qi and Tang
Cave 8 Manshan Buddha 3.6 m of Northern Qi–Tang on western slope.
🇨🇳 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.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Tabasqueño
Late Classic Maya 600–900 CE, Chenes style · Maya (Chenes)
Intact Chenes palace at Tabasqueño with renowned zoomorphic portal: doorway transformed into gaping earth-monster mask with stacked Chaac masks and ear assemblages (INAH).
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Acropolis of Athens
Classical High 447–406 BCE over Bronze Age citadel · Athenian Classical Greek
Periclean citadel with Parthenon, Erechtheion Caryatids and Propylaia — summit of Classical Greece.
🇮🇶 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…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Ancient Agora of Athens
Archaic to Roman 600 BCE–267 CE, Classical peak 5th c. BCE · Athenian Greek
Democratic square of Athens with intact Hephaisteion, Stoa of Attalos and Socratic stoa.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Euromos Zeus Lepsynos — Milas Plain Corinthian Sanctuary
Hellenistic to Roman Hadrianic (200 BCE – 200 CE) · Karian to Roman Asia Euromian
Best-preserved Corinthian Zeus temple 6×11 with 17 standing columns at Milas plain.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Temple complex
Fayaz Tepe Buddhist Monastery
Kushan (1st–3rd century CE) · Kushan Buddhist
Kushan Buddhist monastery on Termez oasis — fresco hall with Alexander-processional mural (1st–3rd cent CE).
🇻🇳 Vietnam · Temple complex
Go Thap
Funan to Chenla (5th–12th century CE, Oc Eo phase 5th–7th, Chenla later) · Oc Eo → Chenla → Khmer
Plain of Reeds island temple (5th–12th cent) — 10 ha Funan–Chenla brick sanctuary in Dong Thap Muoi.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Mycenae
Mycenaean Helladic 1600–1100 BCE, peak 1350–1200 BCE · Mycenaean Greeks
Homeric citadel with Cyclopean walls, Lion Gate and gold mask tombs.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple III (Temple of the Jaguar Priest)
Late Classic Terminal Classic transition c. 810–820 CE · Maya (Tikal late)
55 m high pyramid west of Tozzer Causeway, last great temple built at Tikal for Dark Sun / Chitam late 8th c: thickest roof comb remaining, steep 55° stair and jaguar-pelt sculpture of priest at…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Bingling (Binglingsi) Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Ming ~420–1644 CE · Northwestern Chinese Buddhist (Western Qin to Tibetan)
Yellow River cliff grotto accessible only by boat, bearing China's earliest dated 420 CE inscription.
🇮🇳 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.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Ephesus and Temple of Artemis
Archaeic Greek to Roman Imperial 10th c. BCE–3rd c. CE, Artemision 550 BCE · Greek Ionian then Roman
Roman Asian capital with Artemis Wonder remnant and Library of Celsus.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Manos Rojas
Late Classic Rio Bec 550–830 CE · Maya (Rio Bec)
Rio Bec Group R-16 forest palace east of Becán-Xpujil road: twin non-functional stair towers flanking tripartite temple, interior vaults bear ochre red handprints giving modern name.
🇯🇵 Japan · Temple complex
Ise Grand Shrine (Ise Jingu)
Yayoi legend 4 BCE; historically Asuka period c.692 CE, rebuilt every 20 years · Yamato / Shinto (Japanese imperial)
Shinto's holiest shrine complex (founding legend 4 BCE, attested 692 CE) in primeval cryptomeria forest, dedicated to Amaterasu Ōmikami (Naikū) and Toyouke (Gekū).
🇮🇳 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.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Sanghol (Ucha Pind)
Harappan to Sultanate (c.2000 BCE–16th century CE, peak 1st–6th century CE) · Harappan → Kushan → Gupta → Huna
Kushan Buddhist capital on Grand Trunk Road — 171 Mathura sculptures and Huna royal seals.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Pergamon Acropolis
Hellenistic to Roman 283 BCE–3rd c. CE · Greek (Attalid) and Roman
Attalid citadel with world's steepest theater and Altar of Zeus frieze.
🇵🇪 Peru · Pyramid
Cahuachi Sector Y
Early Intermediate Nazca 1 BCE–500 CE with Initial 400 BCE foundations · Nazca (with Paracas antecedent)
Sector Y 500 m west of Great Pyramid at Cahuachi: adobe (adobito) pyramid 8 m high 40×35 m base with plastered terrace for feasting middens and Paracas-Cahuachi polychrome offering cache (head jars).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Notion Necropolis-Agora — Apollo Claros Necropolis Grid
Archaic to Roman (700 BCE – 300 CE) · Aeolian to Ionian Notians
Necropolis-agora with painted tombs and Apollo sacred way 600 m from temple.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Temple complex
Peor Es Nada
Late Classic Rio Bec 600–850 CE · Maya (Rio Bec)
Eponymously named ‘Peor Es Nada’ (Worse Is Nothing) by chicleros, located 12 km SE of Xpujil deep in forest.
🇨🇳 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.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple
Unified Silla 751 CE (King Gyeongdeok reign) · Silla Korean Buddhist (Hwaeom)
Silla artificial cave-shrine (751 CE) on Tohamsan summit, commissioned by Kim Dae-seong, housing 3.48 m granite Vairocana surrounded by 40 meticulously sculpted bodhisattvas and guardians in 3.6 m…