Description

Walk to the top of a surreal stone fortress surrounded by gardens, ponds and majestic views. Soak in the beauty of Cave Temples and examine its intricate architecture and artistry with your expert tour guide. 

Sigiriya is also known as the Lion Rock. It is a stone fortress and is a palace located in the Matale district of Sri Lanka. King Kasapa built Sigiriya, and now the ruins of the fortress are surrounded by gardens, ponds and other structures, depicting the tales of ancient Kings.

Dambulla Cave Temple lies in the central part of the country and is also known as the Golden Temple. People from faraway places come to see cultural beauty with their own eyes.

According to Lanka mythology, the rock of the Sigiriya rock was a rock monastery donated by Buddhist devotees to the Arahants. King Kasapa later renovated it with gardens and palaces. After his death, it was again used as a monastery. Evidence has been found that human settlements in Sigiriya had been inhabited for nearly five thousand years during the Sothilic period.

Most of the rock inscriptions have been carved and inscribed on many rock caves and have been donated as houses to house Buddhist monks. These were made between the 3rd century B.C. and the first century A.D.

In 1831, Major Jonathan Forbes of the 78th Highlanders of the British army while returning on horseback from a trip to Polonnaruwa came across the "bush covered summit of Sigiriya". Sigiriya came to the attention of antiquarians and later archaeologists. The Sigiriya complex itself consists of the central rock and two rectangular precincts which are surrounded by two moats and three ramparts. The city is based on a square module.

Structure of Lion Rock: The Sigiriya rock is actually a magma plug obtained from an extinct volcano. The most striking feature of the rock is the lion staircase leading to the palace garden. The lion is seen as a large figure against a rocky hill. The lion's open mouth leads to stairs made of brick and wood. However, what remains of this magnificent structure today is the two feet and the masonry walls surrounding it. Even so, the rock-cut facades and groves give the impression of a lion figure.

Cave Temple: Its glory is recognised and that is why it holds the title of a world heritage site, Dambulla Cave Temple lies in the central part of the country and is also known as the Golden Temple. People from faraway places come to see cultural beauty with their own eyes. Inside the caves around the golden temple, there are paintings and statues strewn all over, all related to the life of Gautama Buddha, and the events that took place in it. Vishnu, Ganesha and Demon—Mara are historic gods and goddesses that also have some paintings and structures sculpted for them, situated in the caves. It's predicted that the site has 2700 human skeletons buried underneath it. 

Frescoes: There are only two pockets of paintings that cover most of the west wall of the rock. The women depicted in the paintings were identified as apsaras. However, many of these ladies were wiped out when the palace was turned back into a monastery so as not to disturb meditation.

The Gardens: The gardens are among the oldest landscaped gardens in the world. The gardens are divided into three different but interconnected forms. Water gardens, cave and rock gardens and terrace gardens.

Mirror Wall: At first, the wall was very polished, and the king had made himself visible when he walked by it. The wall, which was once painted with some kind of porcelain, is now partially covered with verses written by visitors to the rock. In the well-preserved mirror wall section, there are verse and verse written in the 8th century. In the past, all kinds of people have come to love, irony and all kinds of experiences written on the wall with different letters. No further writing on the mirror wall is prohibited.