The Sri Meenakshi Sundareswara temple
The Meenakshi temple complex in India is one of the largest and certainly one of the most ancient. According to legend Madurai is the actual site where the wedding between Shiva and Meenakshi took place. The gigantic temple complex,the statues exploring the entire range of human emotions,everything here is larger than life. The soaring and exquisitely 
carved towers enclose the temple dedicated to Meenakashi. The south gateway contains the twin temples of Shiva and Meenakshi and is about nine storeys high.
Once Dhananjaya,a merchant of Manavur,where the Pandyas had arrived after the second deluge in Kumari Kandam,having been overtaken by nightfall in Kadamba forest,spent the night in the Indra Vimana. When next morning he woke up,he was surprised to see signs of worship. Thinking that it must be the work of the Devas,he told the Pandya,Kulasekhara,in Manavur,of this. Meanwhile Lord Shiva had instructed Pandya in a dream to build a temple and a city at the spot Dhananjaya would indicate. Kulasekhara did so. Thus originated the temple and city.
The structures that are standing today date mostly from the twelfth to the eighteenth century. They occupy a vast space,258-m by 241m. There are the two main shrines,no less than twelve Gopuras,a pool and innumerable Mandapas. At every turn there is superb sculpture,magnificent architecture.
