Vijayanagara Architecture

The Vijayanagara Architecture (Kannada: ವಿಜಯನಗರ ವಾಸ್ತುಶಿಲ್ಪ) of the period (1336 - 1565CE) was a notable building idiom evolved by the imperial Hindu Vijayanagar Empire that ruled the whole of South India from their regal capital at Vijayanagara on the banks of the Tungabhadra River in Karnataka, India. The empire built a number of temples, monuments, palaces and other structures over South India, with the largest concentration located in its capital. The monuments in and around Hampi, in the Vijayanagara principality, are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

In addition to building new temples, the empire also added new structures and made modifications to hundreds of existing temples across South India. Some structures at Vijayanagara are from the pre-Vijayanagara period. The Mahakuta hill temples are from the Western Chalukya era. The region around Hampi had been a popular place of worship for centuries before the Vijayanagara period with earliest records dating from 689 CE when it was known as Pampa Tirtha after the local river God Pampa.

There are hundreds of extant monuments in the core area of the capital city. Of these fifty six are protected by UNESCO, six hundred and fifty-four monuments are protected by the government of Karnataka and another three hundred monuments await protection.