The Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya is credited to Emperor Ashoka, who is said to have built it around 260 BCE. His shrine has disappeared, but the Vajrasana, or Diamond Throne, at the foot of the Bodhi Tree is thought to date from 250 to 233 BCE and survives. The present temple dates from the Gupta Empire, in the 5th or 6th century CE.
Its form is a stepped, truncated pyramid topped by a hemispherical stupa with finials, derived from Gandharan stepped stupas. The central tower rises 180 feet (55 m), with four smaller towers of the same style around it. It is built of brick, originally covered in stucco, and is one of the oldest brick structures to survive in eastern India.
Burmese rulers restored it in the 13th and 19th centuries, and the British did so from the 1880s under Alexander Cunningham. UNESCO listed it in 2002. Public access is allowed.
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