Kalahasti temple, 500-yr-old and 135-feet Srikalahasti Gopuram collapses

Kalahasti temple of 500-yr-old Srikalahasti 135-feet Gopuram (Tower) collapses Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

The ‘Gali Gopuram’ of famous Sri KalahastiTemple located at Kalahasti city in Chittoor district that was built 500 years ago by Raja Sri Krishna Devaraya has been collapsed on Wednesday. Cracks started 25 years ago and developed vertically splitting the marvellous structure into two parts. The entire ‘Rajagopuram’ of the 500-year-old Srikalahastitemple or popularly known as ‘Dakshina Kaasi’ — in Chittoor collapsed on Wednesday night.The Chennai inspected the temple and declared the area around the Tower extending up to 150 metres as a “danger zone” . By Wednesday a portion of it crumbled at around 8.10pm. Twenty minutes later the entire structure built by Srikrishnadevaraya collapsed . But, miraculously, as the debris fell, Krishnadevaraya’s statue right in front of the gopuram was left unscathed.

The architectural marvel was built by Vijayanagara ruler Srikrishnadevaraya in 1516 AD to celebrate his victory over Gajapathi kingdom.