The ruined capital of the Vijayanagara Empire, scattered across a vast field of granite boulders on the Tungabhadra river in Karnataka, southern India. For two centuries one of the richest cities on earth, it was sacked over months after the Battle of Talikota in 1565 and never rebuilt as a capital. Its temples, palaces, and waterworks survive as one of the great ruin fields of the world, with the Virupaksha temple still in worship and the site protected by UNESCO.
It took a single season to break a city that had taken two centuries to build. After the Vijayanagara army was destroyed at Talikota in 1565, the victorious sultanate armies poured into its capital and spent months tearing it apart, smashing idols, prying out gems, and burning what would burn. A city that Persian and Portuguese visitors had described as among the largest and wealthiest on earth was emptied of its power and never rebuilt as a capital, though temple worship and local life went on. What remains is stone: temple towers, a carved chariot, royal pavilions, and miles of broken bazaar, all set in a surreal landscape of giant granite boulders beside the river. The place is now called Hampi, and inside one temple worship has continued through the ruins to this day.