Agra, Uttar Pradesh

The AIIS Center for Art & Archaeology (CA&A) is an international leader in the documentation of Indic art and architecture. This section consists of photographs of monuments documented by the CA&A staff since 1966. The photographs are grouped here in alphabetical order in accordance with the site name.

Banaras Ghats, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

A stepped-well (Baoli, Vav, Vapi) is generally a rectangular structure containing a draw well, constructed below the ground level. It is approached by a long stepped corridor which leads from the ground level to the water of the well. Building stepped-wells especially in arid regions was a common practice in the Indian subcontinent. Mostly placed on travel routes, these not only served to quench thirst of the travellers, the space created several levels below the surface of these elaborate wells provided cool resting places. Besides the well these used to have additional tanks for bathing and washing purposes. The Center for Art and Archaeology's image collection of stepped-wells include documentation from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

Indian Temple Architecture

The collection contains photographs and architectural drawings of Indo-Islamic monuments of 14th-19th centuries built along two important travel routes crossing (now) Haryana and Punjab regions. This resulted from several surveys and photo & architectural documentation of the built environment of the two travel routes undertaken by CAA and CSAAA documentation teams.