The Chola emperor Rajaraja I built the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur between 1003 and 1010. The article names the style as Chola and says the Dravidian style is most fully realized here. The granite vimana, the tower over the sanctum, has 16 storeys, 13 of them tapering squares, and rises about 200 feet (60 m). A single square granite block weighing about 80 tons crowns it.
A monolithic seated Nandi bull of about 25 tonnes faces the sanctum. Inside, a stone linga about 29 feet (8.7 m) high fills two storeys, and only priests may enter that chamber.
Chola-era frescoes cover the sanctum walls. S. K. Govindasami discovered them in 1931, and the total area is about 670 square meters, of which about 112 had been uncovered as of 2010. UNESCO listed the temple in 1987 as part of the Great Living Chola Temples, and the Archaeological Survey of India protects it.
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