Halebid

Located around 17 km towards the east of Belur and 27 km towards the north-west of Hassan, Halebid has many temples like that of Belur. Perhaps, the biggest attraction is the Hoysaleswara Temple, belonging to the 12th century and is very famous for the wonderful sculptural display. It was built by Ketumalla, who dedicated this specimen to king Vishnuvardhana and queen, Shantala Devi.

The temple walls are full of depictions of gods, goddesses, birds, animals as well as dancing girls. The most unique fact is that no two depictions are same. Most of the figures of dancing figures were inspired by the Queen Shantala Devi who was considered the highest embodiment of fashion and beauty. The temple is well guarded by Nandi ( bull) and was never completed, even after 86 years of extensive labour. There are around Jain basadis located close by which are also great specimens of sculptural details. Halebid is located around 216 km from Bangalore.