Ruins🏯 Palace & gardenAntiquity
Sigiriya
Sigiriya unites landscape design, hydraulic engineering and royal representation in a coherent plan. Inscriptions on the Mirror Wall also offer an exceptional glimpse of early Sinhalese poetry and visitors’ experiences.
Photo: Wrobell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Facts
- Place
- Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
- Civilisation / patron
- Sinhalese kingdom under King Kashyapa I
- Built
- 477 – 495
- Status
- Ruins
- UNESCO World Heritage since
- 1982
- UNESCO World Heritage
History
King Kashyapa I had a fortified residence with gardens and waterworks built on and around a steep rock. Stairways along the rock face, frescoes and the surviving lion paws mark the route to the plateau. Foundations and reservoirs remain at the summit, while symmetrical water gardens survive below. After the king’s death, the residence lost its political role and the site returned to Buddhist monastic use.
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Sources: Wikipedia — Sigiriya