Best 8th Century

Fushimi Inari-taisha is a Shinto shrine located on Mount Inari in Kyoto, Japan. It serves as the historical and spiritual headquarters for approximately 30,000 shrines dedicated to the kami Inari, the deity of rice, agriculture, and commerce. The site is most famous for its thousands of vibrant verm...

The Great Mosque of Córdoba, built beginning in 785 CE, represents a pivotal moment in architectural history. Located in Andalusia, Spain, it was constructed by the Umayyad dynasty and showcases innovative design blending Islamic and Roman influences. This structure served as one of the most importa...

Charlemagne was king of the Franks from 768, king of the Lombards from 774, and emperor from 800 until his death in 814. Through conquest and administration, he united much of western and central Europe under Carolingian rule and supported the expansion of Latin Christianity. Pope Leo III crowned hi...

The Dabotap, or Many Treasures Pagoda, is an ornate stone Buddhist monument located at the Bulguksa temple complex in Gyeongju, South Korea. Built in 751 CE during the Unified Silla period, it is designated as National Treasure No. 20. The pagoda is distinguished by its complex geometric design, whi...

Codex Amiatinus is the earliest surviving complete manuscript of the Latin Bible in the Vulgate tradition. It was produced around the beginning of the eighth century at the Wearmouth-Jarrow monasteries in Northumbria as one of three large single-volume Bibles commissioned under Abbot Ceolfrith. Inte...

The Nara Daibutsu is a monumental bronze statue of Vairocana Buddha located in the Todai-ji temple complex in Nara, Japan. Originally cast in 752 during the Nara period, the statue was commissioned by Emperor Shomu to consolidate state power through Buddhism. It stands approximately 15 meters tall a...

The Seokgatap, or Shakyamuni Pagoda, is a three-story granite Buddhist monument located at the Bulguksa temple complex in Gyeongju, South Korea. Completed in 751 CE during the Unified Silla period, the structure is characterized by its simple, restrained geometric proportions and is designated as Na...

The Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba is a significant religious structure located in Spain. Constructed beginning in 785, it began as an Umayyad mosque showcasing innovative architectural design with its distinctive horseshoe arches. Later converted into a cathedral, the site represents a unique blend o...

The Bonampak murals are a group of Late Classic Maya wall paintings preserved inside Structure 1 at Bonampak, an archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico. Created around the end of the eighth century, the three painted rooms depict court ceremony, musicians and dancers, warfare, captives, bloodletting...

The five-story pagoda at Muroji temple in Nara Prefecture, Japan, stands approximately 16 meters tall, making it notably small compared to similar structures in the country. Built during the early Heian period around 800 CE, it is one of the oldest existing wooden pagodas in Japan. The structure fea...

The Giant Buddha of Leshan is a massive stone statue carved directly into a cliff face in Sichuan, China, during the Tang dynasty. Depicting Maitreya, the statue measures 71 meters tall and was constructed between 713 and 803 CE at the confluence of three rivers. The massive project was initiated by...

The Paharpur Stupa is the central monumental structure of the Somapura Mahavihara, an ancient Buddhist monastery located in the Naogaon District of Bangladesh. Constructed during the 8th century under the Pala Empire, the site was a major center for Buddhist monastic education and attracted scholars...

The Umayyad Mosque of Aleppo, also known as the Great Mosque, is a historic Islamic mosque located in the ancient city of Aleppo, Syria. Originally constructed around 715 during the Umayyad Caliphate, it is one of the oldest and largest mosques in the Levant. The site is a component of the UNESCO Wo...

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus is an 8th-century Islamic monument situated on the remains of a previous Byzantine church. Constructed during the rule of Caliph al-Walid I between 705 and 715 CE, it represents a significant early example of mosque architecture. It remains a vital place of worship for...

The Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral stands as a unique architectural testament to centuries of religious and cultural exchange in Spain. Originally constructed as a mosque in the 8th century, it evolved into a cathedral following the Christian reconquest. Its prominent features include a large hypostyle ha...

The Lichfield Gospels, also called the St Chad Gospels, is an illuminated Gospel book made in the Insular tradition around the early eighth century. Preserved at Lichfield Cathedral in England, it contains portions of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and the opening of Luke; other parts of the origin...

The Vespasian Psalter is an illuminated Latin psalter produced in Anglo-Saxon England during the 8th century and now held by the British Library. Named for its position in the former Cotton library, it contains the Book of Psalms together with additional devotional material. It is particularly impor...

The Zitouna Mosque stands as Tunisia’s oldest and largest mosque, established in Tunis around 734 CE. It represents a significant center of Islamic scholarship dating back to the eighth century. Located near the University of Tunis, the mosque has served generations of scholars and worshippers and r...

Tay Phuong Pagoda is a historic Buddhist temple complex located on a hill in the Thach Xa commune, west of Hanoi, Vietnam. Originally constructed in the 8th century during the Tang dynasty, the current structures largely date to the 18th century Nguyen dynasty era. The complex is distinguished by it...

Wat Chama Devi, also known as Wat Ku Kut, is a historic Buddhist temple located in Lamphun Province, northern Thailand. The site is distinguished by its primary structure, the Mahapol Chedi, a stepped-pyramid stupa constructed in the late Mon or Dvaravati architectural style. This chedi features 60...

The Sacramentary of Gellone is an illuminated Frankish liturgical manuscript produced around the late eighth century. A sacramentary contains prayers spoken by the priest during Mass and other rites, rather than the complete set of texts used by all participants. The manuscript is associated with th...

The Small Wild Goose Pagoda, located in Xi’an, China, is an eighth-century stupa constructed during the Tang Dynasty. Originally built in 707 CE, it served as a repository for Buddhist scriptures transported from India by scholar-official Yi Jing. This brick structure represents a significant exampl...

Harun al-Rashid was the fifth Abbasid caliph and ruled from 786 to 809, when the caliphate extended across much of the Middle East and North Africa. His court supported scholarship, literature, administration, and diplomacy, although later portrayals often idealized his reign as the height of Abbasi...

Benedictine abbey near Modena, Italy, founded in 752 by St. Anselm of Nonantola, one of the most powerful monasteries in medieval northern Italy and home to a historically significant manuscript library.

Qusayr Amra is an early 8th-century desert castle located in present-day eastern Jordan, built during the Umayyad Caliphate. Functioning as a royal estate and bathhouse complex, it is distinguished by its extensive and remarkably preserved interior fresco paintings. These murals depict secular scene...

Ukhaidir Fortress is an expansive 8th-century desert palace and fortified compound located in the arid plains of southern Iraq. Attributed to the Abbasid period, the stronghold was built around 778 AD and represents one of the earliest surviving examples of Islamic palace architecture. The rectangul...

An 8th-century three-story pagoda at Yakushiji temple in Nara, Japan, distinguished by its six visible roof levels created by intermediate pent roofs (mokoshi), giving it the visual appearance of a six-story tower.

Aniane Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery located near Montpellier in southern France, founded around 782 by Saint Benedict of Aniane. The abbey served as the central hub for Benedict's efforts to reform Frankish monasticism, emphasizing the strict observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Unde...

Jia Dan was a Chinese scholar, cartographer, and government official who lived during the Tang dynasty in the 8th and early 9th centuries. He is most notable for creating the Hainei Huayi Tu, an extensive map that documented the Chinese empire and its surrounding regions. His work synthesized geogra...