Dambulla
Five cave chambers carved into a granite massif contain 153 Buddha statues and 2,100 square metres of painted murals spanning 22 centuries of continuous Buddhist artistic practice, the most extensive and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. The oldest paintings date from the 1st century BCE; the most recent from the 18th century, creating […]
Kandy
Sri Lanka’s cultural capital and the last seat of the Kandyan kingdom, a highland city built around a man-made lake and defined by the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, whose three daily puja ceremonies have continued without interruption for centuries. The city’s extraordinary Esala Perahera festival in July and August, a candlelit procession of […]
Polonnaruwa
Sri Lanka’s medieval capital at the peak of its artistic achievement, Polonnaruwa left behind a concentration of monuments whose elegance is still staggering: the Gal Vihara rock sculptures carved from a single granite face, the immaculate Vatadage circular relic house, and a reservoir landscape that made this civilisation possible and still holds water today. The […]
Anuradhapura
One of the ancient world’s great capitals for over a millennium, Anuradhapura is home to the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree grown from a cutting of the original Bodhi tree in 288 BCE, the oldest human-planted tree on earth with a continuous historical record. Three of the ancient world’s largest brick structures rise from the […]
Sigiriya
A 5th-century royal palace complex built on the sheer face of a 200-metre volcanic rock, with ancient hydraulic water gardens at its base, 1,500-year-old frescoes painted into the cliff face, and a summit view across the flat forest plain that prepares no visitor adequately. The water gardens alone represent a feat of ancient engineering that […]