Beautifully proportioned, the Great Stupa is the centrepiece of the monumental area, directly ahead as you enter the complex from the north. Originally constructed by Ashoka, it was enlarged a century later and the original brick stupa enclosed within a stone one. Today it stands 16m high and 37m in diameter. Encircling the stupa is a wall with four magnificently carved toranas (gateways) that have few rivals as the finest Buddhist works of art in India.