Sigiriya is located In the center of Sri Lanka, surrounded by the lush jungle as far as the eye can see.
It's is an ancient city with a fortress built on a magma rock more than 2600 years ago. The rock itself is 200 meters tall.
The king at the time moved the capital to this Lava rock because he was so scared that his brother, who was the true heir to the throne, would come back and take the title from him.
After spending a few weeks in Sri Lanka in January this year, talking with the locals and other travelers about where we should go next, this place had to be added to our bucket list. After traveling from Kandy to Dambulla, we got up early in the morning one day and took a beautiful Tuktuk ride through the jungle landscape to Sigriya, and got dropped off by the entrance.
It's a place with amazing architecture as well as history, and it holds lots of old historic treasures. It is not easy to imagine how something like this could have been built such a long time ago. The ruins of an old palace, ancient paintings, and giant rock sculptures is a few among many reasons why Sigriya is a UNESCO world heritage site.
To get to the top and see the ruins of the palace and the majestic view, you have to hike the 1200 steps, which takes about 1,5 hours.
But the way there is neither boring or too steep, and what you see on the way may make you forget about both the heat and the challenging walk. At least it did to us, as the view is just amazing.
The lion rock
Sigriya got its name because of the enormous lion sculpture guarding the gates to the palace. Sigiriya means "lion rock"
Fresco's
One of the first things that really caught my eye on the way up the rock was the frescos.
It's 1600-year-old paintings on the rock walls, picturing half-naked women with ancient jewelry. The illustrated women are believed to be either the king of those times wives, servants or important figures in old tantric Buddhism. Today it is strictly prohibited to take pictures of the frescos, and they actually have guards making sure that no tourist brakes this law.
I had to find some pictures that were taken before it got prohibited, so these following pictures are not taken by me:
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Awesome shots @umulius!
Thanks, @astrophoto.kevin ๐
You're welcome :-)