Category: Heritage

An incredible work of art and one of the most unique sites in Polonnaruwa is the Gal viharaya. The entire area is composed of nothing more than pure rock.

The Thuparama Image is an elaborately carved brick and stone building with ornate carvings that seem to pop out of the walls in their intricacy.

Rankoth Vehera is the largest and most important stupa in the whole of Polonnaruwa. Today its preserved wonderfully in its original brick form.

Lankathilaka Image House is now in ruin, but even these are most spectacular. Outer walls of this shrine is carved with perfectly three-dimensional detail.

Demala Mahaseya rises off the ground in the form of a mound and had it been completed, it would have been the largest Buddhist monument in the world.

The Pothgul Vihara is exactly as its name suggests, a library and monastery complex and the oldest one in the whole of Sri Lanka, the term “Pothgul” literally translating as a place to store books.

Among the sites in the city of Polonaruwa is the royal palace King Parakramabahu I, its greates monarch. The main building was a part of a huge palace.

The audience hall of King Nissankamalla Palace is guarded by incredibly detailed lions which sit at the head of the stairway, looking out onto the plain.

The Vatadage in Polonnaruwa is par excellence in vatadage design and gives an incredible view of what a complete vatadage would actually have looked like.