Somnath was destroyed and rebuilt often enough across a thousand years that the 1026 raid usually attached to its name is only one chapter in a much longer demolition history.
More than one destruction
Beyond the raid by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026 covered in this entry's companion article, the temple was damaged or destroyed on several further occasions across subsequent centuries by different rulers, including reported demolitions attributed to the Delhi Sultanate era and, later, to Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, with local rebuilding efforts following most of these episodes until periods of political instability made reconstruction impossible.
Rebuilt again after independence
The temple standing today was rebuilt beginning in 1950, championed prominently by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India's deputy prime minister, and funded substantially through public subscription, a project widely read at the time and since as a deliberate statement of postcolonial national and religious restoration rather than only an act of religious devotion.
Also one of the twelve
Like Kashi Vishwanath, Somnath is counted among the twelve jyotirlingas, the ranked sites of Shiva's manifestation as light, giving it a devotional standing independent of, though certainly reinforced by, the repeated destruction and rebuilding that has made its history unusually well documented compared to many other ancient Indian temples.