ARCHITECT ATLAS
Loading atlas
Chennakeshava Temple

Chennakeshava Temple

Photo: Bikashrd · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Belur, Hassan district, Karnataka, India
Client / Owner
Vishnuvardhana
Year
Completed 1117
Access
Public
Typology
Spiritual
Style
—

The Chennakeshava Temple in Belur was commissioned by the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana. The article says it was consecrated in 1117, and some historians read an inscription as recording completion that year. It also says the temple took 103 years to finish over three generations, so the sources conflict. The infobox gives the style as Hoysala.

The complex measures 443.5 by 396 feet, about 135 by 121 meters. The main temple is 178 by 156 feet (54 by 48 m) including later additions. It is built of chloritic schist on a platform about 3 feet (0.9 m) high. The hall has 48 pillars, including the Narasimha and Mohini pillars, and 80 large reliefs run along the outer walls.

A Delhi Sultanate army attacked it in 1326. Vijayanagara rulers repaired it in the 1380s and 1390s, and UNESCO listed it in 2023 as part of the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas.

Comments

  • Loading comments…
Be kind. Anyone can flag a comment for review.

Sign in

or

Your profile

3 to 24 letters, numbers, underscores or periods. It’s shown with your comments.

Contact us

Questions, corrections or ideas? Your message goes straight to the Architect Atlas owner.

Save to list

    Edit information

    We look the building up on Wikipedia for you. Architect Atlas lists buildings that have their own Wikipedia article: our test for notoriety and our source of truth.

        Typology
        Style (one to three)
        Photo (shown in a 4:3 frame)

        Drag and zoom to frame the building well. New photos are checked before they appear.

        Every change is checked before it goes live: facts against Wikipedia, photos by eye.