Sanchi

Sanchi is in the middle of India. Its old buildings stand on top of a hill.

The main one is a stupa: a giant round dome made of stone and brick.

Sanchi stands on a forested hill in central India, about 10 kilometers from the town of Vidisha. On the hill are stupas, temples, monasteries and a stone pillar, built over many centuries.

A stupa is a solid, dome-shaped monument of the Buddhist tradition. UNESCO counts Sanchi's monuments among the oldest examples of free-standing architecture in India, and added the site to the World Heritage List in 1989.

UNESCO describes the stupas, temples, monasteries (viharas) and pillar (stambha) of Sanchi as among the oldest and most mature examples of free-standing architecture and aniconic art in India, documenting the history of Buddhism from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th century CE.

The site lies on a forested plateau about 10 km from Vidisha; ICOMOS's 1989 evaluation places it 45 km from Bhopal. The monuments are owned by the Government of India and cared for by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Each gate has two stone posts and three long stone beams across the top.

The gates are covered with carvings of plants, animals and people.

The Great Stupa has four tall stone gateways, called toranas, placed almost exactly toward north, south, east and west. Each has two pillars and three crossbeams, copying the shape of older wooden gateways.

The gateways are covered with carvings of plants, animals and people, cut deep into the stone or standing out from it. UNESCO calls their sculpted decoration an incomparable artistic achievement.

ICOMOS notes that the four toranas stand almost exactly on the cardinal points and transpose into stone the structure of a wooden gateway: two posts joined by three rails become two pillars and three architraves. Their carvings in bas-relief, high relief and in the round show plants, animals and human figures.

UNESCO stresses the aniconic style of the early art, in which the Buddha is shown only through symbols, and the meeting of local and outside sculpting traditions. Ashoka's pillar had a capital of lions that UNESCO says was inspired by Achaemenid (Persian) art.

In this photo, the big brown dome rises behind a tall carved gate. Can you find the little umbrella on the very top?

This photo was taken on 3 December 2013. It shows the Great Stupa's brown dome with a tall carved gateway in front of it, and stone railings running around its base and around the terrace higher up.

On top you can see the square railing and the umbrella shape. Another gateway peeks out on the right.

The photograph (3 December 2013, by Bernard Gagnon; a Commons featured picture) shows the west torana of Stupa 1 in front of the dome, with the ground balustrade, the railed terrace, the harmika and chhatra on the summit, and part of another gateway at the right.

ICOMOS records that when the site was found in 1818 by General Taylor it had lain abandoned for 600 years under vegetation; as the hill was cleared, the ruins of about 50 monuments came to light. UNESCO notes that Stupas 1, 2 and 3 were restored in the early 20th century.