Kushite temples standing alone in the desert east of the Nile.
Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist temple.
The only Greco-Roman colonnaded temple in the former Soviet Union, first-century, above the basalt columns of the Garni gorge.
The temple left to the jungle โ silk-cotton roots strangle its walls, famous from Tomb Raider.
Golden monastery perched on a volcanic plug, guarded by monkeys and nat spirits.
Taiwan's largest, most scenic lake.
The "citadel of women": pink sandstone carved so finely it is called the jewel of Khmer art.
Angkor Thomโs central temple, where 200 giant serene stone faces stare from 54 towers.
Trails and tunnels along a marble canyon so narrow the cliffs nearly touch, with the Eternal Spring Shrine over a waterfall.
One of the worldโs largest stupas, ringed by prayer wheels and monasteries.
Medieval Newar royal square of pagodas and wood-carved palaces.
Gilded boulder balanced on a cliff edge, crowned by a small stupa.
Judaismโs holiest prayer site, the retaining wall of the Second Temple.
Nubian Aswanโs feluccas and islands, plus the Temple of Isis moved stone by stone to escape the rising Nile.
Row through limestone karsts and rice paddies on the "Ha Long Bay on land", then climb to the Mua Cave viewpoint.
Ramesses II's colossal rock-cut temples.
Colonnaded temple in the middle of Luxor, best at night when the pharaonic statues and obelisk are floodlit.
A 46-metre gold-leaf reclining Buddha in Bangkokโs oldest temple, also the birthplace of Thai massage.
Technicolour district of temples, spice shops and the Tekka Centre hawker stalls.
The Temple of Dawn: a porcelain-encrusted riverside tower you can climb for views across the Chao Phraya at sunset.
Towering 9th-century Hindu temple compound near Yogyakarta.
Sikhism's radiant golden shrine.
Rock-cut cave temples in Maharashtra, crowned by the monolithic Kailasa temple.
Boulder-strewn ruins of the Vijayanagara empire along the Tungabhadra river.
Shrine to the god of learning where students pray before exams, reached along a lane of plum-blossom mochi shops.
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