The famed Meenakshi temple at Madurai in Tamil Nadu has taken up a project to digitally document the thousands of magnificent sculptures adorning the nine towers of the shrine.
 
The renovation of the various towers is underway and the documentation would also help in preserving the originality of the sculptures, temple officials said.
 
"Each sculpture of the nine towers is being documented... that is, a picture is taken and a number given. Even the minute details are not left out so that the renovation work does not affect the originality of the sculpture in anyway," temple executive officer and joint commissioner B Raja told PTI.
 
The digital pictures would give details about the position of the sculpture and the dress, ornaments etc. The albums could be used for research in future by students of history and architecture.
 
The sculptures in the five main towers of North, East, West and South and the Rajagopuram have already been
covered. The West and South towers together have 2,600 sculptures.
 
As the sculptures had been covered in view of the renovation, the authorities have put up pictures of some sculptures on a board for the benefit of tourists and pilgrims.