Sigiriya Rock Fortress – “සීගිරිය”

Note…

Sigiriya is a Historic and Scenic location

You must purchase a ticket to enter.

Brief description…

Sigiriya is a huge rock formation isolated in the flat lands of North Central plains. The formation was identified for its obvious strategic advantage by the ancient rulers, and hence was carved into a fortress and a palace. Decades worth of excavations and archaeological research has unearthed clear evidence of this rock once being a fortress. Historical accounts credit King Kashyapa, of Polonaruwa Era, for briefly ruling the country from Sigiriya fortress, although there are debates over the possibility that Sigiriya was an abandoned ruin even back then and that King Kashyapa only refurbished it.

Sigiriya is identified as a fortress because of the multiple stages of barricades extending outside the foot of the rock. These include several thick walls and moats. But after crossing the innermost wall, you enter the garden, in ruins but with clear signs of order, planning, symmetry and overall beauty that only royalty deserved.

Halfway up the rock is a wall covered in poems, believed to be written by ancient tourists who were mesmerized by the beauty of this unique location. Then there are the paintings remaining on plaster halfway up the rock wall, leaving us to wonder how much of the original structure is actually remaining and what it could have looked like.