What the structure represents
The documented Great Stupa (Stupa 1) at Sanchi was enlarged from an earlier brick monument, with sandstone-facing, a raised terrace, railings, cardinal gateways and a summit harmika. Published dimensions of the mound are about 36.6 m across and 16.46 m high. The model includes these main forms without replicating individual sacred narrative reliefs.
The experiment
The mound is treated as an idealised uniform-density half-ellipsoid with radius 18.3 m and a modelled crown above terrace of 12.31 m. Integration gives V = 2πr²h/3. Weight is W = ρgV; mean bearing pressure is σ = W/(πr²). A deliberately simplified Winkler response gives δ = σ/k. The check uses the independently simplified formula σ = 2ρgh/3.
The original construction is not a homogeneous ellipsoid. Internal layering, shell action, settlement, stiffness, pore water, degradation, and earthquake response are not calibrated. The interior section exposes a conceptual brick core and stone facing, not survey data.
Evidence tiers
Documented: site, heritage development, dome scale, principal named elements and four gateways. Scholarly reconstruction: approximate proportional railings, torana spacing, mound profile and cut section. Artistic interpretation: abstract carving, vegetation, stone colours, constructed illumination and load arrows. The six display stages explain assemblies but do not assert the exact historical chronological sequence of all surviving masonry.
Educational reconstruction; details marked as reconstruction are interpretive.
Primary reference paths
Accessibility: Arrow keys orbit the monument; +/− zoom; the number keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 select overview, gateway, above and close views. All adjustments also work using ordinary keyboard focus. Touch: one finger orbits, two fingers pinch to zoom.