Konark Sun Temple

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Sun Temple, Konark (1984); Monument Of National Importance Under The Archaeological Survey Of India · Konark, Odisha

A thirteenth-century temple to Surya, the sun god, on the coast of Odisha, built around 1250 by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I and designed as the god's chariot: twenty-four giant carved stone wheels along its base and seven horses pulling it towards the dawn. The wheels are the most famous stone carving in eastern India, and they work as sundials. The great tower over the sanctum, once one of the tallest structures in India, collapsed centuries ago, and what stands today is the entrance hall, the jagamohana, which the British filled with sand and sealed in 1903 to stop it collapsing too. That is why you cannot go inside. The exterior is covered in sculpture: musicians, dancers, animals, daily life, and erotic scenes like those at Khajuraho. Sailors once called it the Black Pagoda and used it as a landmark. It is a World Heritage Site, and it is not in worship. Konark is usually visited with Puri and Bhubaneswar as a triangle. The Konark Dance Festival is held against the temple each December.

Konark Temple Road, Konark, Odisha, 752111, India

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED AND ALL TIMES MUST BE CONFIRMED. The typical pattern: the temple is open every day from sunrise to sunset, with last entry about half an hour before closing, and on some evenings stays open later for the light show. The ASI Archaeological Museum outside the enclosure keeps daytime hours and typically closes one day a week, often Friday. The Konark Dance Festival runs in the evenings around the first days of December. Cyclone warnings can close the site at short notice in May and from October to November. The traps: arriving at midday in the heat, expecting an interior, and finding the museum on its closed day.

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