Bara Kaman, Bijapur

The 1672 Bara Kaman ('twelve arches') incomplete mausoleum at Bijapur (Vijayapura) in Karnataka — Ali Adil Shah II's intended mausoleum for himself, begun around 1672 and abandoned on his death in 1672. The design was intended to surpass the Gol Gumbaz (built 1626-1656 by his grandfather Mohammed Adil Shah) with twelve massive arches supporting a dome larger than the Gol Gumbaz dome (which at 44m diameter is the second-largest unsupported dome in the world). Only two of the twelve arches were raised before Ali Adil Shah II's death at age 15 (he had succeeded his father Mohammed Adil Shah in 1656 as an 8-year-old regent, with the Adil Shahi power declining under Mughal pressure). The sultan's actual grave is at the Bara Kaman site, unmarked and unroofed. ASI protection since 1917. UNESCO tentative list since 2014 as part of the Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate.