Martand Sun Temple

Lalitaditya's masterpiece. Built atop a plateau, the colonnaded courtyard once enclosed 84 shrines around the central sanctum to Surya.

When it was built

725–756 CE · reign of Lalitaditya Muktapida of the Karkota dynasty

What happened to it

Early 15th century · pulled down by Sultan Sikandar Butshikan during the valley's iconoclast period. The colonnade and the plinth survive; the sanctum roof does not.

Where it stands today

Not reconstructed · protected as a monument by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI); conservation work preserves the ruins as they stand.