Ramappa temple is a masterpiece of Kakatiyan style of Temple architecture. It has recently been accorded World Heritage Status by UNESCO. Masterful material selection: Temple is constructed using sandstone. The temple has
- Decorated beams and pillars of carved granite and dolerite. The temple is located close to Ramappa Cheruvu, a Kakatiyan-built water reservoir.
- Distinctive Vimana: The temple has pyramidal Vimana which appears like horizontally Stepped tower made of lightweight porous bricks, called as floating bricks, which helped reduce the weight of the roof.
- Floating bricks: Kakatiyas had pioneered a unique brick making technology by which high strength bricks of very low weights could be manufactured. These bricks are called floating bricks.
- Sculptures: Temple sculptures are of high artistic quality. They illustrate regional dance customs and Kakatiyan culture. The sculptures have a metal like finish with its lustre intact even after 800 years of construction.
- Sandbox technique: The foundation of the temple is built using sand-box technique which is unique to Kakatiyan temple architecture. The understood the need for utilising sand as a material for the foundation.
- Other important Kakatiyan period structures:
- Keerthi Thoranas of Warangal
- Temple of Thousand Pillars at Hanumakonda.
Fig: Ramappa Temple