When we are talking of man made wonder of the world when we think of Pyraminds of Egypt, Great Wall of China etc. When we think of any man made monolithic structure then first thing come into my mind is the The Kailassh Temple, world’s largest monolithic structure caved out of single rock.
YES you heared right it’s carved out of single rock, a masive structure measured about 109 ft wide and 164ft long located in Maharashtra, India. It is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples in India because of its size, architecture and sculptural treatment.
The Kailasanatha temple (Cave 16) is one of the 32 cave temples and monasteries known collectively as the Ellora Caves.
The Kailasa Temple is notable for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original rock and excavated downward. The traditional methods were rigidly followed by the master architect which could not have been achieved by excavating from the front.
According to Archaeologists over 400,000 tons of rocks were scooped out which would have taken not years, but centuries of human labor to construct this monolithic structure.
The following picture tell the story by itself.
I will write another review on my visit to Ajanta & Ellora caves.