About 65 km from Bhubaneswar, near the sacred city of Puri, is the great Sun Temple of Konark.
The temple dedicated to the Sun God or Surya is a masterpiece of Orissa's medieval architecture and has been designated a United Nations (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.
The massive structure of the temple, now in ruins, sits in solitary splendour surrounded by the drifting sands. The entire temple has been designed in the shape of a chariot carrying the Sun God across the heavens. The huge intricate wheels of the chariot, which are carved around the base of the temple, are the major attractions of the temple.
The spokes of these wheels serve as sundials, and the shadows formed by these can give the precise time of the day. The pyramidal roof of the temple, made of sandstone, soars over 30 m in height. Like the temples at Khajuraho, the Sun Temple at Konark is also covered with erotic sculptures
Situated at a distance of 64 km from Bhubaneswar, the magnificent Sun Temple is the prime attraction of Konark. Probably constructed by Narashimhadev I in the mid-13th century, the temple is dedicated to Surya, the Sun God, and is designed in the form of his huge chariot.
In the medieval period, when the temple was on the shore (the shoreline has receded more than 3 km today), it was used as a navigational aid by the European sailors on their way to Calcutta. They used to call it the "Black Pagoda" to distinguish it from the "White temple"-the Jagannath Temple at Puri. An earlier Surya temple existed in Konark as long back as the 9th century but most of the existing structure dates from the 13th century
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