🇨🇳 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.
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Prambanan Temple Compounds
Mataram Hindu-Buddhist c.850–900 CE (peak Rakai Kayuwangi) · Central Javanese Hindu (Trimurti Shivite)
Largest Hindu temple complex in Southeast Asia (c.850 CE) of Mataram Pu Sanjay, with 47 m Shiva terraced shrine (Candi Siwa) surrounded by 238 smaller shrines in concentric mandala, opposite Sewu…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Telesterion of Eleusis — Hall of Mysteries
Mycenaean to Roman (1500 BCE–395 CE) · Eleusinian
Telesterion of Eleusis — Hall of Mysteries in Attica, Greece is a Mycenaean to Roman (1500 BCE–395 CE) temple-complex attributed to Eleusinian.
🇮🇳 India · Archaeological wonder
Rani ki Vav (Queen's Stepwell)
Solanki Chaulukya 1022–1063 CE · Gujarati / Solanki Hindu (Maru-Gurjara)
Jewel-box stepwell (1022–1063 CE) built by Queen Udayamati in memory of Bhima I, 64 m long with seven descending galleries and 500+ principal sculptures.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Selinunte Acropolis Temples — Sicily
Archaic to Hellenistic (651–250 BCE) · Megarian colonial Greek
Selinunte Acropolis Temples — Sicily in Sicily, Greece is a Archaic to Hellenistic (651–250 BCE) temple-complex attributed to Megarian colonial Greek.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Archaeological wonder
Registan Square at Samarkand
Timurid Shaybanid 1417–1660 CE · Timurid / Uzbek (Turko-Persian Islamic)
Timurid and Shaybanid plaza framed by three majestic madrasas: Ulugh Beg (1417–1420) with astronomical iconography, Sher-Dor (1619–1636) with tiger mosaics defying aniconism, and Tilla-Kari…
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Xochicalco Archaeological Zone
Epiclassic 650–900 CE · Epiclassic central Mexican
Fortified hilltop Pyramid of Plumed Serpents, zenith cave, UNESCO 1999.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Tepe Maranjan — Kabul Stupa Hill
Kushan–Hephtalite (200–500 CE) · Kabul Buddhist (Kushan–Hephthalite transition)
Tepe Maranjan — Kabul Stupa Hill in Kabul Province, Afghanistan is a Kushan–Hephtalite (200–500 CE) temple-complex attributed to Kabul Buddhist (Kushan–Hephthalite transition).
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Mogao Caves (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)
Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan 366–1368 CE (peak Tang 618–907) · Multi-ethnic Buddhist (Han, Tibetan, Uyghur, Sogdian)
492 temple caves on 1.7 km Mingsha cliff with 2,000 painted sculptures and 45,000 m² murals spanning 366–1368 CE (Sixteen Kingdoms to Yuan).
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Ellora Caves
Late classical: Kalachuri, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta periods 600–1000 CE · Buddhist, Hindu (Shaiva), Jain under Rashtrakuta patronage
Largest rock-cut monastery-temple complex in world with 34 caves carved 600–1000 CE into basalt Charanandri Hills: 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu, 5 Jain, including monolithic Kailasa Temple (Cave 16)…
🇧🇴 Bolivia · Archaeological wonder
Tiwanaku
Formative to Tiwanaku Period 300–1000 CE (flourishing 500–950) · Tiwanaku Empire
Capital of Tiwanaku Empire (300–1000 CE) on Altiplano near Lake Titicaca at 3,850 m, featuring Akapana pyramid, Kalasasaya enclosure, and Gateway of the Sun carved from single andesite blocks…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Tell
Tell Nabasha (Imet)
Old Kingdom to Late Period (2680–332 BCE) · Egyptian (Delta)
Wadjet shrine centre with Amasis monoliths and Cartonnage cemetery.
🇲🇾 Malaysia · Temple complex
Lembah Bujang
Early Kedah to Bujang Valley (200 BCE–1400 CE; peak 500–1100 CE) · Kedah Tua (Qarun) to Srivijaya–Langkasuka
Lembah Bujang is Malaysia's earliest Hindu–Buddhist entrepôt (200 BCE–1400 CE) — 224 candi and iron-smelting furnaces (200 BCE, 30 furnaces) along the Muda River–Merbok estuary, iron export to…
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka · Temple complex
Kataragama Temple
Kataragama Devalaya (Sinhala: රුහුණු මහා කතරගම දේවාලය, lit. 'Ruhuṇu Mahā Kataragama Dēvālaya', Tamil: கதிர்காமம் முருகன் கோயில், lit.
Bhutan · Temple complex
Chorten Kora
Chorten Kora is an important stupa next to the Khorlo-Chu(Kholongchu) River in Trashi Yangtse, in East Bhutan.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Dashavatara Cave Temple — Deogarh
Gupta Golden Age (Classical India 320–550 CE) · Gupta Vaishnava; later Jain Chandella
525 CE earliest Nagara Panchayatana shikhara — Vishnu Anantasayana and Betwa Jain cliff.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Sanctuary of Apollo at Claros — Southern Bay Complex
Late Classical to Roman (Hellenistic oracle peak) · Colophonian Greek under Persian and later Roman oracle administration
Claros oracular bay temple Ionic prostyle over sacred pool feeding chasm, oracle hydrology.
🇸🇩 Sudan · Pyramid
Dokki Gel
Kerma (1800–1500 BCE) to Napatan–Meroitic (1500 BCE–400 CE) · Sub-Saharan African coalition (southern) and Kerma/Egyptian
Sub-Saharan sacred city 400×200 m north of Kerma (1800 BCE–400 CE), African temple platforms 6–8 m high.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Bharhut
Sunga → early Satavahana (Shunga art) 150–75 BCE · Sunga (Dhanabhuti lineage)
Great Sunga stupa 150–75 BCE — 11 m vedika with toranas, Jataka-labelled reliefs and yakshi pillars (Cunningham).
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Temple of Athena Polias at Erythrae (Ildırı Alternate Terrace)
Archaic (Cypselid to Persian entry) · Ionian Greek (Erythraean polis, Sibylline tradition)
Ionian Sibyl city's upper-terrace Ionic Athena temple 8×13 c.540 BCE above Chios strait.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Ialysos Athena Polias Temple — Filerimos Hill
Geometric to Medieval · Mycenaean, Dorian Rhodian, Byzantine, Knights
Rhodes 267-m Filerimos Doric Athena Polias 3rd BCE atop Minoan–Knights stratigraphy with sacred road and fountain.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Priene — Temple of Athena Polias and Grid City
Late Classical to Hellenistic (350–133 BCE) with Roman upkeep to 600 CE · Ionian Greek (Milesian) and Hellenistic Attalid
Alexander-dedicated Athena temple 334 BCE by Pytheos and pristine Hippodamian grid city.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Temple of Athena at Assos
Archaic (600–500 BCE) · Aeolian Greek under Lydian and later Persian rule (Assian polis)
Only Archaic Doric temple in Anatolia 530 BCE, sculpted architrave atop 238-m acropolis.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Karahan Tepe Pillared Structure East Ridge — Western Terrace
Pre-Pottery Neolithic (9500-8500 BCE) · Pre-Pottery Neolithic
Karahan Tepe Pillared Structure East Ridge — Western Terrace in Southeastern Anatolia, Sanliurfa, Turkey is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic (9500-8500 BCE) temple complex attributed to Pre-Pottery Neolithic.