English: Halebid was a capital of the Hoysala dynasty between the 11th and 14th-century. The repeated raids, looting and destruction by Delhi Sultanate of the Hoysala cities and temples in the 14th-century reduced many to deserted ruins. Some were restored by the Vijayanagara Empire, but more ruins followed Vajayanagara's defeat by the combined forces of the Deccan Sultanates.

These ruins were rediscovered in the 19th-century. The sophistication and artwork at the Hoysaleswara temple made it one of the earliest temples to gain attention of British archaeologists and the earliest photographers in British India. These archives were labelled phonetically as "Hulla Beed", "Hullabid", "Haleebeed" and others. Notable photos were taken by Tripe, Neill, Pigou and Oakeley. They published a small set, between 25 to 100 copies – each now a prized collection, some in major libraries such as the British Library and others in private collections.

The above photos are from 1854 and 1857, both published in 1860, now at the British Library. To verify and get more information on early photographs of Halebid area, please see: Janet Dewan (1989), The hoysalesvara temple of halebid in early photography.

This is photograph of a 2D image published in 1860. Therefore, the PD-Art guidelines of Wikimedia Commons apply. Any rights I have, I herewith donate it to the public domain through wikimedia commons.