Amaravati Marbles

Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh was the site of a key Buddhist shrine in 200 BCE. The grand stupa featured 120 marble sculptures, inscribed railings, entryways and carved relief panels illustrating some of the Jataka tales. Excavated in 1845, the stupa was dismantled, and the majority of the pieces shipped to London, just as the East India Company was being dissolved.

On view at the British Museum, which has a dedicated Amaravati Marbles gallery. Some excavated objects from Amaravati are at the Government Museum in Chennai and at a small museum in Guntur.