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Meenakshi Temple

Madurai, Madurai District, Tamil Nadu Shaiva and Shakta tradition

Served from the stored corpus. Last scan Sep 28, 2026. Next scan Oct 28, 2026.

Photograph

Stored photograph. The earliest frame in this record is 1858.

3 of 7

Albumen photograph from about 1880 showing a painted pillared corridor in the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai.

Painted corridor

An albumen photograph by Bourne and Shepherd, about 1880, of a painted corridor inside the temple.

  1. 1858 East gopuram
  2. January–March 1858 Temple entrance
  3. About 1880 Painted corridor
  4. 1890s Interior pillars
  5. 1895 Tank and south tower
  6. 1923 Tank and southern gopuram
  7. 3 February 2006 Gopuram

About 1880 Bourne and Shepherd, about 1880. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Source and license

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What changed?

Each line keeps the confidence of its source. Conflicts are not collapsed.

  • Identified from a secondary account This line records the published identification only. It does not add a construction date or a height. Date not established in this corpus · Documented fact · Medium confidence

Evidence summary

Counts are records in this corpus, including gaps.

7 Republishable photographs
2 Interior photographs
0 Diagrams
1 Documents

About the temple

Meenakshi Temple occupies the old centre of Madurai. Published accounts dedicate the paired shrines to Meenakshi and Sundareswarar. The temple city is old in Tamil literature. This corpus does not date the standing towers from an inscription. The earliest photograph stored here is Linnaeus Tripe’s view of the east gopuram, made in 1858.

Primary deity: Meenakshi and Sundareswarar

Literary mention of Madurai is older than any building date established here. No foundation year is stored as fact.