Hampi, India
Ancient Capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom
The Chandramauleshwar Temple at Hampi Archaeological Park..
Founded in 1336, the site of Hampi, Karnataka, is located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River with a backdrop of majestic rock boulders. Once the capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, the 15th century Chandramauleshwar Temple is centrally located in Hampi and is one of the site’s most prominent architectural buildings, aligned with the primary axis of Vithhala Temple overlooking two rivers on a popular pilgrimage route to a sacred mountain at Hampi. In 1986, UNESCO inscribed the group of monuments at Hampi as a World Heritage Site. More recently, Hampi was listed by UNESCO on the List of World Heritage in Danger, a move prompted by the construction of two new suspension bridges and a new major road within the Core Protected Area, as the addition of the road and bridges threaten the World Heritage site’s integrity. However, in 2006 Hampi was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger after addressing the World Heritage Centre’s (WHC) concerns.
A decade of research at Hampi by scholars from 1987 to1997 has revealed a much larger area of settlement around the urban core and World Heritage Zone, where a large population lived and transformed the landscape. The Vijaynagar Greater Metropolitan region of approximately 650 square kilometers includes an enormous wealth of built structures, archaeological sites and natural features—including forts (evidence of as many as 10), walled settlements (5), temples and religious sites, mortuary sites, tanks, canals, fields, trade routes, civic structures and remains of industrial sites. All these structures are located in the unique natural landscape of Tungabhadra, famous for its watershed and boulders.
