Great Stupa

Beautifully proportioned, the Great Stupa is the centrepiece of the monumental area, directly ahead as you enter the complex from the north. Originally constructed by Ashoka, it was enlarged a century later and the original brick stupa enclosed within a stone one. Today it stands 16m high and 37m in diameter. Encircling the stupa is a wall with four magnificently carved toranas (gateways) that have few rivals as the finest Buddhist works of art in India.