Anuradhapura
The first great capital of the island, and its political and religious centre for well over a thousand years, from roughly the…
Gazetteer
Places
The reservoirs, stupas, temples and ancient cities that the rest of this archive describes.
- All types
- Stupas & Dagobas 5
- Temples & Shrines 7
- Tanks & Irrigation 4
- Monuments & Carving 4
- Ancient Cities 3
- Landscape 1
Ruwanwelisaya
Built under King Dutugemunu in the second century BCE and among the most venerated stupas in the Theravada world. The dome stands…
Jetavanaramaya
Raised under King Mahasena in the third century CE, and when complete one of the tallest brick structures ever built anywhere…
Thuparamaya
Traditionally held to be the first stupa built on the island, raised by King Devanampiya Tissa in the third century BCE shortly…
Abhayagiri
The centre of a monastic complex that at its height rivalled the Mahavihara and housed several thousand monks. Abhayagiri was…
Samadhi Statue
A seated Buddha in the dhyana mudra, carved from dolomite marble and generally dated to the third or fourth century CE. It is…
Isurumuniya
A rock temple of the third century BCE, best known for the carved panel called the Isurumuniya Lovers. The identity of the two…
Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi
A sacred fig grown from a cutting of the tree at Bodh Gaya under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, brought to the island…
Sandakada Pahana
The semicircular carved threshold stone placed at the foot of stairways into shrines — the moonstone, one of the most distinctive…
Tissa Wewa
One of the earliest reservoirs of the Anuradhapura system, attributed to King Devanampiya Tissa in the third century BCE and…
Polonnaruwa
The island's capital from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, after Anuradhapura was abandoned. Its high point was the reign…
Gal Vihara
Four Buddha images cut from a single granite face during the reign of Parakramabahu I, and generally considered the summit of…
Polonnaruwa Vatadage
A circular relic house of the twelfth century, built to shelter a small stupa and generally regarded as the finest surviving…
Parakrama Samudra
The Sea of Parakrama — a reservoir of roughly 22 square kilometres formed by joining several older tanks under Parakramabahu I in…
Lankatilaka Image House
A brick image house of the twelfth century, its walls still standing to a considerable height and enclosing a standing Buddha…
Rankoth Vehera
The largest stupa at Polonnaruwa, built under Nissanka Malla in the late twelfth century and deliberately modelled on the great…
Sigiriya
A royal citadel built on and around a granite inselberg rising about 180 metres from the plain, constructed under King Kashyapa…
Dambulla Cave Temple
Five caves under a rock overhang, in continuous religious use since the first century BCE and containing the largest surviving…
Mihintale
The hill where, by tradition, the monk Mahinda met King Devanampiya Tissa in the third century BCE and introduced Buddhism to the…
Sri Dalada Maligawa
The temple housing the relic of the Buddha's tooth, in the Kandyan royal complex. Possession of the relic was for centuries…
Embekka Devalaya
A fourteenth-century shrine whose drummers' hall carries the most celebrated wood carving in Sri Lanka. The timber pillars are…
Kala Wewa
Built under King Dhatusena in the fifth century CE, and fed Anuradhapura through the Yoda Ela — a canal running roughly 87…
Minneriya Wewa
Built under King Mahasena in the third century CE, and still irrigating land today. As the tank recedes in the dry season it…
The Dry Zone Paddy Landscape
The working landscape that the tank system exists to produce: bunded fields, a village tank above them, and a cascade carrying…