Sanchi is famous for its stupas, monasteries, temples and pillars dating from the 3rd century BC to the 12th century AD. The Sanchi Stupa, the best known of all, was originally built by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, then Governor of Ujjayini, whose wife Devi was the daughter of a merchant from the adjacent Vidisha. Their son Mahindra and daughter Sangamitra were born in Ujjayini and sent to Sri Lanka, where they converted the king, the queen and their people to Buddhism. A chunar sandstone pillar fragment, shining with the proverbial Mauryan polish, lies near Stupa 1 and carries the famous edict of Ashoka's warning against Buddhism in the Buddhist community. Stupa 1 was found empty, while the relics of the two disciples of Buddha enshrined in the adjacent Stupa 3 were carried away to England. The nearby modern Buddhist temple has a reliquary containing the remains of Buddhist teachers from another Stupa outside Sanchi.

The balustrade surrounding Stupa 2 was added in the late 2nd century BC under the Sungas, while the four gateways of Stupa 1 were built in the 1st century BC, under the Satyavahanas. Carved with stories of Buddha's past and present, and incidents from Buddhist history, the gateways are the finest specimens of early classical art.