Thanjavur (Tanjore) was the capital of the Chola empire, and the Brihadisvara Temple at its centre is the dynasty's greatest surviving monument. Built by Raja Raja Chola I around 1010 CE, the temple's vimana tower rises 66 metres above the surrounding streets — one of the tallest temple structures in India — and the whole complex is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The scale and precision of the stonework, the Chola bronzes in the inner corridors, and the massive Nandi bull carved from a single rock are worth a long visit.
Beyond the temple, Thanjavur has the Royal Palace complex, a sprawling compound of courtyards, halls, and a bell tower — the Goodagopuram Watch Tower — that houses the Saraswathi Mahal Library, one of the oldest libraries in Asia, with 49,000 palm-leaf manuscripts. The Thanjavur Art Gallery in the same complex holds some of the finest Nataraja bronzes in existence.
Thanjavur is also one of the great centres of Carnatic classical music. The composer Thyagaraja lived and worked in the delta, and the annual Thyagaraja Aradhana festival held in nearby Thiruvaiyaru is one of the most important classical music events in India. The city's traditional crafts — lost-wax bronze casting, Thanjavur painting, and veena making — are still practised in working workshops you can visit.
Thanjavur sits in the heart of the Cauvery delta, Tamil Nadu's rice bowl, surrounded by flat, green farmland. The town is compact and manageable on foot or by auto-rickshaw. It makes a natural stop on a route through Tamil Nadu's temple towns, between Trichy and Kumbakonam.