🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Temple of Poseidon at Sounion
Classical High 444–440 BCE · Athenian Greek
Pericles' white cliff-top Poseidon temple guarding Attica's maritime gateway.
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Borobudur Temple Compounds
Mataram Sailendra c.780–830 CE · Central Javanese Buddhist (Sailendra/Mataram)
Mahayana Buddhist mandala-mountain (c.775–825 CE) of Sailendra/early Mataram, 34.5 m high terraced pyramid with 2,672 relief panels (longest Buddhist narrative reliefs 2.5 km) and 504 Buddha statues.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Philae Temple Complex
Late Period to Roman (380 BCE–452 CE demotic last text; Isis cult active to Justinian 550 CE closure) · Egyptian Late Period / Ptolemaic / Roman
Island temple ensemble dedicated chiefly to Isis, built from 30th Dynasty to Roman (380 BCE–117 CE): Isis main temple, Birth House (mammisi), Kiosk of Trajan (renowned photographer kiosk), Gate of…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Heraion of Perachora
Geometric to Classical ~750–300 BCE · Corinthian Greek
Corinth's cliff sanctuary of Hera on coastal lagoon with apsidal 750 BCE temple and cistern.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Ancient city
Khafajah
Late Uruk to Old Babylonian (c.3400–1700 BCE; peak Early Dynastic) · Uruk → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic (Akkadian/Sumerian Diyala) → Akkadian → Old Babylonian/Eshnunna
Diyala Sequence key town with 10-phase Sin Temple and Samsuiluna earthquake horizon.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city
Lambityeco
Classic Xoo 600–850 CE · Zapotec (Xoo phase, Late Classic)
Xoo-phase Zapotec salt palace with Cocijo friezes and tell de sal 140 m salt workshop for Monte Albán tribute.
🇲🇱 Mali · Temple complex
Great Mosque of Djenné
Medieval to Modern (13th c original; current 1907 reconstruction) · Sudano-Sahelian / Malian / French colonial restoration
World's largest mudbrick (banco) structure, Great Mosque of Djenné dominates island town: 56×56 m, 11 m high, three 34 m minarets with ostrich-egg pinnacles, toron wooden poles for annual…
🇮🇩 Indonesia · Temple complex
Borobudur
Medang Kingdom Sailendra 780–835 CE · Mahayana Buddhist under Sailendra dynasty central Java
World's largest Buddhist Mandala mountain with 72 latticed stupas.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple I (Temple of the Great Jaguar)
Late Classic Maya (700–734 CE) · Maya (Tikal Mutul dynasty)
Classic Maya superstructure 55 m high (45 m pyramid + 12 m temple and 12 m roof comb) on Great Plaza east, funerary pyramid of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (695–734), entombed vault 6 m under with jade…
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Dazu Rock Carvings
Tang to Southern Song ~650–1252 CE · Chinese esoteric Buddhist (Tang–Song)
50,000 Tantric cliff sculptures — China's last Buddhist rock-cut synthesis at Baoding.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Labraunda Zeus Temple — Karian Sanctuary of Zeus Labraundos
Hekatomnid to Roman (351 BCE – 300 CE) · Hekatomnid Karian to Roman Mylasa
Mountain Zeus sanctuary 680 m with Maussollian androns on sacred way from Milas.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Pattadakal Temple Complex
Early Chalukya 7th–8th century CE, peak 740–760 CE · Hindu (Shaiva, Vaishnava) under Chalukya Vikramaditya II
Chalukya structural temples laboratory fusing Nagara and Dravida shikhara styles.
🇨🇳 China · Archaeological wonder
Forbidden City (Imperial Palace, Beijing)
Ming to Qing 1406–1420 construction, occupied 1420–1912 CE · Ming / Qing Chinese imperial
Ming-Qing imperial palace (1420–1912, 961 buildings, 9,999 rooms) occupying 72 ha within Beijing's inner city, the world's largest wooden palace ensemble.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Acropolis of Athens
Classical High 447–406 BCE over Bronze Age citadel · Athenian Classical Greek
Periclean citadel with Parthenon, Erechtheion Caryatids and Propylaia — summit of Classical Greece.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Mycenae
Mycenaean Helladic 1600–1100 BCE, peak 1350–1200 BCE · Mycenaean Greeks
Homeric citadel with Cyclopean walls, Lion Gate and gold mask tombs.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Elephanta Caves
Late Gupta to Early Chalukya 5th–8th century CE · Hindu (Shaiva) and Buddhist under Kalachuri/Chalukya patronage
Rock-cut Shaiva cave complex on Elephanta Island with colossal Trimurti sculpture, 5th–8th c. CE.
🇮🇳 India · Rock-cut
Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments
Pallava dynasty 630–700 CE · Hindu (Shaiva) under Pallava
Pallava seaside rock-cut trials: Shore Temple surviving tsunami and 27-m bas relief.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Notion Necropolis-Agora — Apollo Claros Necropolis Grid
Archaic to Roman (700 BCE – 300 CE) · Aeolian to Ionian Notians
Necropolis-agora with painted tombs and Apollo sacred way 600 m from temple.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple
Unified Silla 751 CE (King Gyeongdeok reign) · Silla Korean Buddhist (Hwaeom)
Silla artificial cave-shrine (751 CE) on Tohamsan summit, commissioned by Kim Dae-seong, housing 3.48 m granite Vairocana surrounded by 40 meticulously sculpted bodhisattvas and guardians in 3.6 m…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Tiryns
Mycenaean 1600–1100 BCE, acme 1300–1200 BCE · Mycenaean
Cyclopean citadel with earliest vaulted galleries in Europe and megaron palace.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Hagia Sophia
Late Antiquity / Byzantine 532–537 CE, Ottoman additions 1453– · Byzantine Greek to Ottoman Islamic
Justinian's 537 CE dome on pendentives – seminal Byzantine basilica-monsoon turned mosque.
🇮🇳 India · Ancient city
Fatehpur Sikri
Mughal 1571–1585 CE · Mughal (Akbar)
Mughal imperial city founded 1571 by Akbar as capital to honor Sufi Salim Chishti, combining Persian, Timurid and Gujarati-Rajasthani architecture in red sandstone.
🇧🇩 Bangladesh · Temple complex
Mainamati (Shalban Vihara)
Early Medieval 7th–13th c CE · Buddhist Samatata Chandra dynasty
Mainamati-Lalmai ridge — Buddhist monastic city (7th–13th c CE) 8 km west Comilla, 18 major mounds (Shalban Vihara, Ananda Vihara, Kotila Mura) excavated 1955–73 F.A. Khan.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Sardis Artemis Temple — Pactolus Valley Sanctuary of Artemis
Lydian Archaic to Roman (550 BCE – 400 CE) · Lydian to Hellenistic to Roman Sardian
100 m Lydian–Hellenistic Artemis temple on Pactolus gold terrace.