I think that this might be in my films with Khwajah Hassan Nizami.

Love your posts, learning much more about the history not known till now.

The architecture is fascinating and seems almost Persian. Need to know if there many temples with this style?

Aurangzeb ordered its demolition in 1669 and constructed Gyanvapi Mosque, which still exists alongside the temple.[6] Traces of the old temple can be seen behind the mosque ... from Wiki and that explains the minaret and perhaps the dome at the back.

Thanks for the daily dose of architectural history. My favorite subject. Have you read Alex Rutherfords historical fiction on Moghuls.?. Very interesting.

from where did you get that information that Aurangzeb ordered to demolish such a temple in Benaras? Please give me a reliable source which prove that vilification.

Sahibe Alam Azami Nadwi: We have discussed this issue more than a few times here at RBSI. This link should answer your query: "Demolition of the temple of Viswanath (Banaras). August 1669 A.D. It was reported that, “according to the Emperor’s command, his officers had demolished the temple of Viswanath at Kashi”. (Maasiri-‘ Alamgiri, 88)" http://bit.ly/12EE5m8

Sahibe Alam Azami Nadwi: You should understand that many an inconvenient topic in Indian history has moved on to the realm of convenient politics. This article should help you gain further insights on this subject... Why did Aurangzeb Demolish the Kashi Vishvanath? By Koenraad Elst ..."Syed Shahabuddin asserts that Muslims cannot possibly have destroyed any Hindu temple, because "pulling down a place of worship to construct a mosque is against the Shariat"; claims to the contrary are all "chauvinist propaganda." Arun Shourie has confronted this claim with the information given in the official court chronicle, Maasiri Alamgiri, which records numerous orders for and reports of destructions of temples. Its entry for 2 September 1669 tells us: "News came to court that in accordance with the Emperor's command his officers had demolished the temple of Vishvanath at Banaras" . Moreover, till today, the old Kashi Vishvanath temple wall is visible as a part of the walls of the Gyanvapi mosque which Aurangzeb had built at the site. In the face of such direct testimony, it is wiser not to challenge facts headon. It is better to minimize or to justify them. Thus, Percival Spear, co-author (with Romila Thapar) of the prestigious Penguin History of India, writes: "Aurangzeb's supposed intolerance is little more than a hostile legend based on isolated acts such as the erection of a mosque on a temple site in Benares." But a perusal of the same Moghul chronicle thoroughly refutes this reassuring assertion: Aurangzeb had thousands of temples destroyed. And other chronicles, diaries and other documents concerning Muslim rulers in India prove that the practice was not a personal idiosyncrasy of Aurangzeb's either."... http://bit.ly/Y1QWKx

Sahibe Alam Azami Nadwi: A matured reasoning and a sensible conclusion to this contentious topic of temple destruction in the past...by Sitaram Goel: ..."That Muslims have destroyed thousands of temples would not be an issue today if the Muslims had taken the same conciliatory attitude which the Pope takes vis-A-vis the Native Americans (during his 1992 visit to the site where Columbus landed in 1492, the Pope expressed his heartfelt regrets for the suffering which Christendom inflicted on them), which the Japanese now take vis-A-vis the Koreans, the Germans vis-A-vis the Jews, etc. Or they may dispense with the fashionable breast-beating and televised apologies, as long as they don’t repeat their medieval behaviour in our own time. The problem is not what Muslims did in the past, but what they do today: Hindus are trying to exercise a right which religious communities everywhere obviously have, viz. to worship at their own sacred site; and Muslims are trying to deny them this self-evident right - not in the middle Ages, but today."... http://bit.ly/VWb69n

Aurangzeb's attitude and bigotry is clear if Sir Jadunath Sarkar's book on his religious policy is referred to.

ASSAULT ON AN ANCIENT LAND ITS HERITAGE THAT HAS GONE FOR 1200 YEARS NAD STILL COINTINUES... Every time I see a photo of this site or a lithograph like this my anger is renewed. The history will never forgive Muslim invaders for destroying a beautiful prosperous country and its landmarks and tradition. Many came, looted and went back like Taimur, Changez Khan and Nadir Shah; many more like Ghauri and Gazhnavi not only looted and but also destroyed the temples and monuments because of their intolerance; and then the likes of Mughals and their predecessors they made their home in our beautiful land yet destroyed temples, confiscated palaces, built mosques with their material, kidnapped, assaulted and married Hindu women, and then imposed taxes on those whose land they had been living on. The Hindus and Sikhs took the brunt of a community for 10 centuries. I very well understand why the hatred that still persists and the communalism that has plagued the country today because now the "looting: is by modern names: Reservation and Appeasement of a chosen minority. If I lived in India and was subjected to this unfairness at the hands of self-serving politicians, believe me ... I too would be screaming bloddy murder!!!!

this part of the structure of the old demolished temple upon which the mosque was built has now been completely fenced with steel sheets and no ordinary citizen is allowed there