One of India's more unusual wonders in the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai. The temple honors Meenakshi, an avatar of the goddess Parvati, and Parvati's consort Shiva.
The temple complex is ancient but the standing buildings all date to after 1310, when the temple was destroyed by Muslim raiders. The great south tower, 170 feet tall (55m), was built in 1559.
The towers have been regularly repainted since their construction. They fade a lot before they are repainted, so photographs vary greatly in how bright the colors are.
Closeup of the figures.
But the gate towers are only one of the temple's wonders. The interior is full of pillared halls and a city's worth of stone sculpture. My favorite detail:
The corridor surrounding the sanctum the Meenakshi is called kilikoondu Mandapam ("bird cage corridor"). The space was once used to keep green parrots that were trained to utter the name of Meenakshi.
The golden shrine at the temple's heart.
A wall painting depicting the legend of the temple's founding.
The Hall of a Thousand Pillars was built in 1569, but for obscure reasons it only contains 985 pillars.
An extraordinary place.
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