Visited guies
Considered one of the greatest pieces of sculptural art of the early period, this statue shows the Buddha in a state of deep meditation. Said to date back to the 4th century, the Samadhi statue is possibly at least one century older and is widely acknowledged to be a masterpiece of Sinhalese sculpture.
Isurumuniya temple, in Anuradhapura, built in the 3rd century BC, was the first repository of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha. It was originally calls Meghagiri Vihara or the Shrine of the Clouded Mountain. The temple is known best for its rock carvings, the most popular being ‘The Lovers’. There many theories offered as to their identity. The style of the sculpture resembles the Gupta Art of India. The lovers, therefore, may have been carved in the 5th century.
Built by King Parakramabahu, and later restored by Vijayabahu IV, this dramatic brick building was once five story’s high and embellished with flowers, creepers, animals, birds and statues of gods. The two gigantic columns at the entrance, now broken to a highest of 58 ft., must originally have been at least double that height. The cathedral-like aisle leads to a standing Buddha statue, now headless, which was 41 ft., tall. The extenior
Walls are ornamented with delicate sculpture which depicts various buildings of the Polonnaruwa era. In front of the Lankathilaka is a pillared ‘mandapaya’ with 40 stone chaste-ornamented pillars.
Peradeniya Botanical garden, the finest of its kind in Asia, the largest of the three botanical gardens in the island, couldn’t be better located. In the Mediterranean climate of kandy. The gateway to the central highlands, the Gardens was bounded on three sides by a loop of river Mahaweli.