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Temples

19 places. Each card uses the earliest photograph stored for that temple.

Photograph from 1868 by Edmund David Lyon showing the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur from the grounds.

Brihadisvara Temple

Thanjavur, Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu

Shaiva tradition

1868 · Edmund David Lyon, 1868. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Albumen photograph from 1855 by Thomas Biggs showing the east front of the Durga Temple at Aihole.

Durga Temple, Aihole

Aihole, Bagalkot District, Karnataka

Early Chalukya temple, described as originally dedicated to Surya

1855 · Thomas Biggs, 1855. Open-access file from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from 1885 by Lala Deen Dayal showing the Great Stupa at Sanchi from the north.

Great Stupa, Sanchi

Sanchi, Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh

Buddhist stupa and monastic complex

1885 · Lala Deen Dayal, 1885. Public domain / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from about 1868 by William Henry Cornish showing the Lion Gate of the Jagannath Temple at Puri.

Jagannath Temple

Puri, Puri District, Odisha

Vaishnava tradition

Around 1868 · William Henry Cornish, around 1868. Public domain, Archaeological Survey of India, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from the 1880s showing the rock-cut Kailasa Temple at Ellora.

Kailasa Temple, Ellora

Ellora, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra

Shaiva rock-cut temple; Ellora Cave 16

1880s · Photographer not named, 1880s. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the Kamakhya Temple on Nilachal hill in Guwahati.

Kamakhya Temple

Guwahati, Kamrup Metropolitan District, Assam

Shakta and tantric tradition

16 May 2011 · Kunal Dalui, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi.

Kashi Vishwanath Temple

Varanasi, Varanasi District, Uttar Pradesh

Shaiva tradition

14 November 2024 · Gannu03, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from the 1880s by William Henry Cornish showing the Konark Sun Temple mandapa from the east.

Konark Sun Temple

Konark, Puri District, Odisha

Saura tradition

1880s · William Henry Cornish, 1880s. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the Lingaraja Temple tower in Bhubaneswar.

Lingaraja Temple

Bhubaneswar, Khordha District, Odisha

Shaiva tradition

8 December 2013 · Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Albumen photograph from 1858 by Linnaeus Tripe showing the east gopuram of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.

Meenakshi Temple

Madurai, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu

Shaiva and Shakta tradition

1858 · Linnaeus Tripe, 1858. Public domain, British Library, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the Nagaraja Temple at Nagercoil, taken in January 2007.

Nagaraja Temple

Nagercoil, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu

Hindu worship of Nagaraja, with Jain figures remaining in the mandapa

7 January 2007 · Infocaster, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the eastern gopuram of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple.

Padmanabhaswamy Temple

Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala

Sri Vaishnava tradition

20 June 2013 · Aravind Sivaraj, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Albumen photograph from 1858 by Felice Beato showing the shaft of the Qutb Minar.

Qutb Minar

Mehrauli, South Delhi, Delhi

Indo-Islamic architecture; Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque complex

1858 · Felice Beato, 1858. Public domain, Getty Museum via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of a long pillared corridor at the Ramanathaswamy Temple, Rameswaram.

Ramanathaswamy Temple

Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu

Shaiva tradition

30 May 2013 · Vensatry, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from 1869 by Samuel Bourne of the Vishnu temple at Srirangam, titled with the colonial name Trichinopoly.

Ranganathaswamy Temple

Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu

Sri Vaishnava tradition

1869 · Samuel Bourne, 1869. Public domain, Minneapolis Institute of Art, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph of the Somnath Temple at Prabhas Patan, beside the sea.

Somnath Temple

Prabhas Patan, Gir Somnath District, Gujarat

Shaiva tradition

4 August 2014 · Aditya Mahar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Color photograph from 1989 of the Suchindram temple gopuram beside a tall wooden temple car, with people and a bus in the street.

Suchindram Thanumalayan Temple

Suchindram, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu

Shaiva–Vaishnava tradition

January 1989 · Ziegler175, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Albumen photograph from the 1860s by Samuel Bourne showing the Taj Mahal at Agra from the east.

Taj Mahal

Agra, Agra District, Uttar Pradesh

Mughal funerary architecture; Islamicate garden tomb

1860s · Samuel Bourne, 1860s. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Photograph from 1856 by Alexander John Greenlaw showing the Virupaksha Temple complex at Hampi.

Virupaksha Temple, Hampi

Hampi, Vijayanagara District, Karnataka

Shaiva tradition; Vijayanagara imperial capital

1856 · Alexander John Greenlaw, 1856. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.