The tower of the main entrance of virupaksha temple is 165ft  tall and 150 ft wide  and 120 ft long and have eleven stories . It is popular by the name bistappa gopura . it is known to be repaired during the Krishna devaraya period . as you enter the temple premises one can find the symbol of Krishna devaraya period on the right wall of the entrance. There are rest houses to stay for people who come from far off places. Besides this there is a big school . On the right side there is a pooja mantapa also known as kalyana mantapa. There is a well to provide water to piligrims.

There are two parakaras to the virupaksha temple. From the first parkara to the west one can see one more tower called Raya tower which was built to commemorate the cornation of Krishna Devaraya.

Virupaksha is also called pampathi which is also the oldest of all the temples in hampi. The doors of the temple are beautifully carved . This is a very old temple belonging to the hoysala period. In 1509-10 during the time of his coronation  Sri Krishna devaraya built the ranga mantapa.

Legendry story

Sri Virupaksha is also called Pampathi. It is said that Pampa devi did thapas in this holy place concentrating on Shiva. Lord Shiva appeared before her and took the shape of shiva lingam promosing to stay there for ever. That idol of Shivalingam is Virupaksha. The holy place is called pampakshetra.

As one enters the temple from the river at the back side there are steps and at the fourth step  to the right is a room where in through a small hole through which light passes one can find the inverted image of bistappa tower