The Ancient Wonder of Sigiriya

According to the Culavamsa chronicle, Sigiriya was built by King Kashyapa I (Kassapa), who reigned from 477 to 495 CE. Having seized the throne from his father, King Dhatusena, he moved his capital from Anuradhapura to this granite monolith.

UNESCO describes the site as the ruins of the capital built by the parricidal King Kassapa I, which was abandoned after his death. The rock later became a Buddhist monastic site until around the 14th century.

The summit, nearly 200 metres above the surrounding plain, held the royal palace, cisterns and terraces. Visitors climbed past a great lion figure built of brick and plaster; today only its colossal paws survive, flanking the final staircase — the origin of the name Sīhagiri, ‘Lion Rock’.

On the western side lie some of the oldest landscaped gardens in Asia. Symmetrical water gardens, pools, channels and fountains are laid out along a central axis, while boulder gardens and terraced gardens rise toward the rock.

Underground conduits fed by reservoirs supplied the fountains, some of which still function during heavy rains — a testament to the hydraulic knowledge of the period.

In a sheltered pocket of the western rock face survive paintings of elegant female figures, often called the ‘Sigiriya maidens’. They are among the finest surviving examples of ancient Sri Lankan painting.

Below them runs the polished Mirror Wall, covered with verses scratched by visitors between roughly the 8th and 10th centuries — some of the earliest examples of Sinhala poetry and writing.