
School Trip To Hampi
March 2023
We are delighted that the children have recently been on a school trip to Hampi. Hampi, also referred to as the Group of Monuments at Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. It was a fortified city. Chronicles left by Persian and European travellers, particularly the Portuguese, say that Hampi was a prosperous, wealthy and grand city near the Tungabhadra River, with numerous temples, farms and trading markets. By 1500 Hampi was the world's second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at that time, attracting traders from Persia and Portugal.
The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates; its capital was conquered, pillaged and destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins.
Hampi's ruins are spread over 16 square miles and it has been described by UNESCO as an "austere, grandiose site" of more than 1600 surviving remains of the last great Hindu kingdom in South India that includes "forts, riverside features, royal and sacred complexes, temples, shrines, pillared halls, memorial structures, water structures and others".


