Many
great cities of antiquity around the world were the center of their
civilization for centuries, only to be lost to the ages, and then
rediscovered centuries or millennia later, reduced to rubble and ruins,
with only the largest structures still standing, and the rest mere
shadows. Other cities continued to grow and change, leading to eclectic
mixes of thousand-year-old forts and temples, medieval streets and
markets, government buildings put up by colonial powers, and modern
high-rises, offices and strip malls cluttering everywhere in between.
But there are not many places in the world that went from being a small
place of moderate importance to being the capital of the kingdom to
being almost entirely deserted and nearly lost to the wilderness within a
century, and in such recent history (a mere 500 years ago.)
Champaner is just such a place. Here you can find an old palace, fort,
several mosques, but also walk the ancient streets just as its
inhabitants did five centuries ago. Champaner was an out-of-the-way
pilgrimage site for hundreds of years, became the capital of Gujarat,
and was then abandoned to be overtaken by the jungle. The city rose and
fell almost as fast as the modern stock market, but left behind far more
aesthetic remains. The city is remarkably well-preserved, with Hindu
and Jain temples a thousand years old, mosques from the time of the
Gujarat Sultanate, and the whole workings of a well-planned capital city
still in evidence, from granaries and fortifications to stepwells and
cemeteries. Champaner became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004
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| Labels: Archaeology, Architecture, Fort, Hills, Hinduism, Islam, Mosque
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