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"Monument Complex"
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#13356577
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356580
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356583
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356587
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356590
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356594
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356600
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356604
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356607
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356611
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356614
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356615
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13356616
22 February 2026
An aerial view shows the ancient ruins of Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon, Bangladesh, on December 13, 2025. The historic Buddhist monastery complex features a central cruciform temple structure surrounded by symmetrical brick cells and boundary walls. Built during the Pala dynasty in the 8th century, the UNESCO World Heritage Site remains one of South Asia's most significant archaeological monuments, attracting visitors and researchers throughout the year.
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#13328984
16 February 2026
Devotees stand in queues as they wait to offer prayers during the festival of Maha Shivaratri at the Bhukailash Temple, a 250-year-old twin temple complex dedicated to Lord Shiva, built in 1781 by Raja Joynarayan Ghoshal Bahadur. The temple is known for its immense 11-foot-tall Shiva Lingas, named Raktakamaleshwar and Krishnachandaneshwar, in Kolkata, India, on February 15, 2026.
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#13304677
11 February 2026
Archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal, Lumbini Development Trust, and Durham University hold a press conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 11, 2026, announcing the uncovering of the first apsidal Buddhist temple in Nepal. A collaborative team of national and international experts from the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal, Lumbini Development Trust, and Durham University's UNESCO Chair uncover Nepal's first example of an apsidal Buddhist temple within the ancient city of Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu, one of the best-preserved Early Historic cities and hinterlands in South Asia. A clear category of temple in South Asia, they are called apsidal as they have a curved end wall that defines the religious focus of the monument, with an entrance platform at the other end. The earliest known examples are cut into rock, with later monuments constructed out of stone, timber, or brick. The monument revealed at Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu, the first discovered in Nepal, follows this exact layout but is unusual in its location. It is a rare example of an apsidal temple constructed within a city rather than in a separate religious complex. The newly discovered apsidal structure is built near the center of the city of Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu over the remains of the city's earlier palatial complex. This central walled complex defines an area of 100 by 100 meters through a massive brick wall measuring 1.5 meters wide. After its abandonment, the complex becomes a focus for veneration, with Buddhist monasteries built over its ruined monumental walls. It is within the courtyard of one of these monasteries that the apsidal temple is built, enshrining and respecting an earlier Buddhist stupa within the earlier monastery.
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#13304679
11 February 2026
Professor Robin Coningham, UNESCO Chair on Archaeological Ethics and Practice in Cultural Heritage at Durham University and co-director of the excavations, briefs about the findings during a press conference in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 11, 2026. A collaborative team of national and international experts from the Department of Archaeology, Government of Nepal, Lumbini Development Trust, and Durham University's UNESCO Chair uncovers Nepal's first example of an apsidal Buddhist temple within the ancient city of Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu, one of the best-preserved Early Historic cities and hinterlands in South Asia. A clear category of temple in South Asia, they are called apsidal as they have a curved end wall that defines the religious focus of the monument, with an entrance platform at the other end. The earliest known examples are cut into rock, with later monuments constructed out of stone, timber, or brick. The monument revealed at Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu, the first discovered in Nepal, follows this exact layout but is unusual in its location. It is a rare example of an apsidal temple constructed within a city rather than in a separate religious complex. The newly discovered apsidal structure is built near the center of the city of Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu over the remains of the city's earlier palatial complex. This central walled complex defines an area of 100 by 100 meters through a massive brick wall measuring 1.5 meters wide. After its abandonment, the complex becomes a focus for veneration, with Buddhist monasteries built over its ruined monumental walls. It is within the courtyard of one of these monasteries that the apsidal temple is built, enshrining and respecting an earlier Buddhist stupa within the earlier monastery.
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