The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Temples in India
5 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful UNESCO-listed temples in India are Konark Sun Temple, Mahabodhi Temple and Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur. The list covers 5 UNESCO-listed temples. Last updated 13 October 2026.
India's UNESCO temples show what happens when sculpture and architecture become one craft. Dynasties competed to build temples as images of the cosmic mountain, carving every surface with gods, dancers, animals and scenes from the epics, and some of these works remain in worship after a thousand years.
The Konark Sun Temple in Odisha was built in the 13th century as the chariot of the sun god Surya, with twenty-four carved stone wheels and teams of horses. The Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya marks where the Buddha attained enlightenment, a tall brick tower beside a descendant of the Bodhi tree. The Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, completed in 1010 under the Chola king Rajaraja I, has a granite tower over 60 metres high. The Khajuraho Group, built by the Chandela kings, is known for the density and sensuality of its sculpture. The Ramappa Temple in Telangana, from the Kakatiya period, is named after its sculptor and topped with lightweight bricks.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konark Sun Temple | Temple | ✓ |
| 2 | Mahabodhi Temple | Temple | ✓ |
| 3 | Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur | Temple | ✓ |
| 4 | Khajuraho Group of Monuments | Temple | ✓ |
| 5 | Ramappa Temple | Temple | ✓ |
01 Konark Sun Temple
India · 21.7 km from Puri19.887° N 86.095° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Souravdas1987 · CC BY-SA 4.0 The Sun Temple at Konark, on the coast of Odisha in eastern India, was built around 1250 by King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty as a stone chariot for Surya, the sun god.
Did you know? According to legend, 1,200 craftsmen toiled for twelve years, and the master builder's 12-year-old son Dharmapada set the final crowning stone, then leapt to his death to shield them.
02 Mahabodhi Temple
India · 11.5 km from Gaya24.696° N 84.991° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Sumitsurai · CC BY-SA 4.0 The Mahabodhi Temple marks the place where, in Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha Gautama sat beneath a fig tree and attained enlightenment, and for Buddhists it is the holiest site on earth.
Did you know? The 2013 gilding of the tower used roughly 280–290 kg of gold donated by the Thai king and Thai devotees, yet covered only its topmost section.
03 Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur
India · 2.4 km from Thanjavur10.783° N 79.132° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France · CC BY 2.0 Rajaraja I, the Chola emperor who dominated south India at the turn of the first millennium, built this temple to Shiva at Thanjavur between 1003 and 1010 and named it after himself: Rajarajesvaram. Locals simply call it the Big Temple, Periya Kovil, and the name is fair.
Did you know? In 1954 India's ₹1,000 banknote carried a panoramic view of the temple, and in 2010 it featured on the first ₹1,000 coin ever minted in the Republic.
04 Khajuraho Group of Monuments
India24.850° N 79.933° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Hiroki Ogawa · CC BY 3.0 The temples of Khajuraho are the surviving core of a religious city built by the Chandela dynasty in what is now Madhya Pradesh, in the heart of India. Most were raised between about 885 and 1000 CE, and inscriptions suggest the greater part of what stands today was complete by around 1030. By the 12th century there were some 85 temples spread over 20 square kilometres; about 25 survive across 6.
Did you know? The temples were built without mortar: sandstone blocks lock together with mortise-and-tenon joints and stay in place by gravity, some beams weighing up to 20 tons.
05 Ramappa Temple
India18.259° N 79.942° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Ms Sarah Welch · CC0 Ramappa is a temple named after the man who built it, not the god it honours, and the sculptor has earned the tribute. Raised in 1213 in the village of Palampet in Telangana by Recherla Rudra, a general of the Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva, the temple is dedicated to Shiva as Rudreshwara, but it is known everywhere by the name of its designer. It is often said to be the only temple in India named after its craftsman.
Did you know? The light bricks of the tower weigh only about three-quarters as much as ordinary bricks, thanks to husk and fibre burned out in firing.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful UNESCO-listed temples in India?
- On our list, Konark Sun Temple ranks first, followed by Mahabodhi Temple and Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur.
- Why are the Ramappa Temple bricks called floating bricks?
- The bricks of its towers were made so light and porous that they float on water. This reduced the load on the structure, which has helped it survive in an earthquake-prone area.
- Why is the Konark temple shaped like a chariot?
- It was conceived as the chariot of Surya, the sun god, with twenty-four wheels pulled by seven horses. The wheels also work as sundials.
- How many UNESCO-listed temples are on this list in India?
- The list covers 5 UNESCO-listed temples.