Rani ki vav

Rani ki vav is an intricately constructed stepwell situated in the town of Patan in Gujarat, India. It is located on the banks of Saraswati River. Rani ki vav was built as a memorial to an 11th century AD king Bhimdev I. It was added to the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites on 22 June 2014. Stepwells are a distinctive form of subterranean water resource and storage systems on the Indian subcontinent, and have been constructed since the third millennium BC. Rani ki vav was built in the complex Maru-Gurjara architectural style with an inverted temple and seven levels of stairs and holds more than 500 principal sculptures.Rani ki Vav bagged the title of “Cleanest Iconic Place” in India at the Indian Sanitation Conference (INDOSAN) 2016 in New Delhi in October 2016. The monument was felicitated at the conference, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.HistoryRani ki vav, or Ran-ki vav was constructed during the rule of the Chaulukya dynasty. It is generally assumed that it was built in the memory of Bhima I by his widowed queen Udayamati and probably completed by Udayamati and Karna after his death. A reference to Udayamati building the monument is in Prabandha Chintamani, composed by the Jain monk Merunga Suri in 1304 AD.The stepwell was later flooded by the nearby Saraswati River and silted over until the late 1980s. When it was excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India, the carvings were found in pristine condition.