UNESCO World Heritage sites in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Top Sights

This collection highlights Tamil Nadu’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, spanning over a millennium of architectural and engineering history. The Pallava-era monuments of Mahabalipuram showcase 7th-century rock-cut caves and monolithic rathas. The Great Living Chola Temples, including Brihadishwara and Airavateswarar, represent the peak of Dravidian temple architecture with intricate stone carvings and massive vimanas. Completing the list is the 1908 Nilgiri Mountain Railway, a narrow-gauge rack railway climbing the Western Ghats.

Ravichandar84 / CC BY-SA 3.0

Shore Temple Complex, Mahabalipuram

The Shore Temple is a complex of temples and shrines that overlooks the shore of the Bay of Bengal.

KARTY JazZ / CC BY-SA 4.0

Brihadishwara Temple

Brihadishvara Temple locally known as Thanjai Periya Kovil, and also called Peruvudaiyar Kovil, is a Hindu Saivite temple built based on…

KARTY JazZ / CC BY-SA 4.0

Great Living Chola Temples

The Great Living Chola Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation for a group of Chola dynasty era Hindu temples in the Indian…

Rosa Schnee / CC-BY-SA

Five Rathas

Pancha Rathas is a monument complex at Mahabalipuram, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, in the Chengalpattu district of the…

Rosa Schnee / CC-BY-SA

Mahabalipuram Monuments

Collection of 7th and 8th-century rock-cut cave temples, monolithic chariots, and structural temples. These monuments were built by the Pallava dynasty and represent early developments in South Indian religious architecture.

Savmasca / CC BY-SA 4.0

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

The Nilgiri Mountain Railway is a 1,000 mm metre gauge railway in Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu, India, built by the British in 1908.

Thirumigu Airavateswarar Temple

A 12th-century Hindu temple built by Rajaraja Chola II in Darasuram. Part of the Great Living Chola Temples UNESCO site, it features a chariot-shaped mandapa pulled by stone horses and elephants, and is renowned for its intricate stone carvings and musical stairs.