🇨🇳 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.
🇮🇳 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
Longmen Grottoes
Northern Wei to Tang 493–907 CE (peak Northern Wei 493–534, Tang 618–907) · Chinese Buddhist (Wei-Tang)
1-km limestone gorge with 1345 caves and niches, 2,345 caves total? Actually 1,345 caves, 43 pagodas and 100,000+ Buddhist images (largest Vairocana 17.14 m) carved 493–907 CE from Northern Wei…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Maijishan Grottoes
Sixteen Kingdoms to Tang ~384–907 CE · Chinese Buddhist Northern Dynasties
Stacked-cliff wheat-plant-shaped grotto city with 7,200 sculptures on bolted plank galleries.
🇲🇲 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,…