Sri Lanka is a relatively small country but has a lot to offer to archaeological and history lovers with several beautiful and well maintained archaeological sites with 8 of them listed on the UNESCO World Heritage. The most important ones are situated in a zone called the cultural triangle or  golden triangle formed by Anarudhapura, Polonnarowa and Kandy in the middle of the island . The other  significant sites are Sigiriya, Minhatale and Dambulla cave.

 

 

MIHINTALE

Although not on the UNESCO list, Mihintale (also known as Cetiyagiri or Sagiri) is a very important archeological site and also the oldest. it is regarded as the cradle of Buddhism in Sri Lanka where the Buddhist monk Mahinda and King Devanampiyatissa NURADHAPURA met. Mihintale covers a relative small area with some interesting archeological sites scattered around. The rock called Aradhana Gala where Mahinda landed an be climbed and is an important pilgrimage site for Buddhist all over the world. The view from the top  is breathtaking especially when the sun is down. It is accessed  by a fight of rock-carved steps.

 

Buddha blanc geant Mihintale

 

 

ANURADHAPURA

This archaeological site is situated in the town of Anuradhapura,  205 km away from the Capital of Colombo and spread on 41km2 (about 1/10 of Angkor Archaeological site).
In 377 BC, King Pandukabhaya (437–367 BC) moved the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom to Anuradhapura and developed it into a prosperous city.

Anuradhapura was added to the UNESCO Word Heritage list  in 1982. It was founded in 3 BC and once had the tallest structures in the ancient world with a dagoba (stupa). The stupa we see nowadays can be quite different from the original ones as many of them we restored or reconstructed. British explorers found the lost city  in the 19 century and many dagobas had fallen to the natural elements, as nature reclaimed is territory.

What is more fascinating about Anuradhapura and its extensive hydraulic system taking into account that the city was built more than 1000 years before  Angkor. Some structures like the massive Jetavanaramaya dagoba which spreads on 5.6 hectares was the highest structure of the  ancient word at 122 meters (it was scaled back to  70 meters afterwards).

 

Jetavanaramaya dagoba anuradhapura.

 

 

DAMBULLA CAVE TEMPLE

 

Dambulla cave temple, also known as Rangiri Dambulla or  Golden temple of Dambulla  is the largest temple cave complex in Sri Lanka , originating from 3BC . Like other cave temples  in Sri Lanka, these shires  were occupied by  hermits monks in the ancient times.

At  160 meters high, 5 caves (shrines ) close to each other, are famous for their  157 status of Lord Buddha images and wall paintings which are covering an area of 2,100 square meters.  It is an active religious site and can become quite crowded especially in the smaller caves.  Adding the low light to this, it is quite challenging place to take pictures.

Reclining Buddha in Dev-Raja-viharaya  cave

 

Feet of the reclining Buddha in Dev-Raja-viharaya  cave

 

 

 

Laurent Dambies
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