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Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A stepwell, inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List, that was built in the 11th century.
Rani ki Vav is a stepwell situated in the town of Patan in Gujarat, India. It is located on the banks of the Saraswati River. Its construction is attributed to Udayamati, the spouse of the 11th-century Chaulukya king Bhima I. Silted over, it was rediscovered in the 1940s and restored in the 1980s by the Archaeological Survey of India. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India since 2014. The stepwell is designed as an underground shrine or inverted temple symbolizing the sanctity of water, with sculptures depicting numerous Hindu deities. It is divided into seven stair levels, each with sculptural panels. These panels contain more than 500 principal sculptures and over a thousand minor ones, combining religious, secular, and symbolic imagery.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
The reservoir was built in 1084 by Solanki ruler Siddharaj Jaysinh on the erstwhile bank of the Sarasvati River. The lake had 1,008 Shiva shrines on its embankment. Spread over 17 acres, it has ruins of an 84-pillared Shiva temple and three-ringed sluice gates. Only 20% of the lake is excavated. It had a natural filtration system.
Located on a hillock, there is a temple of legendary Megh Maya associated with folklore of Sahastralinga Tank. There are some old ruins behind the temple.
This temple of Kali, built by Siddharaj Jaysinh, is over 1,000 years old. Kali is a clan deity of the Solankis. She guards the town.
Established in 2010, the museum has large number of marble and sandstone sculptures dating back to the ancient and medieval times.
Patola Museum
To learn about Patola sari and its heritage. Operated by Salvi weaver family.
Sheikh Farid's mosque and mausoleum is an early Islamic construction of Gujarat, built even earlier than monuments in Ahmedabad. It has a beautifully carved ceiling. It is falsely identified as Behram Khan's Maqbara.