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Photographs from the visual archives

Photography
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Photography

This section represents the photographic collections of the Center for Art and Archaeology (CA&A) that covers more than 7000 monuments and ancient buildings from about 3000 archaeological and historical sites in all regions of India. The Photo-archives of the Center cover nearly all phases of ancient and medieval Indic architecture.

 
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Step well/Baolis

A step 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.

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