Sigiriya Travel Guide

Little can prepare you for the experience of Sigiriya, the great rock citadel and perhaps the most remarkable of all Sri Lanka’s former capitals. Sigiriya is famous for its palace ruins on top of a massive 200 meter high rock surrounded by the remains of an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs and other structures. The rock itself is a lava plug left over from an ancient long extinct volcano. It is also renowned for its ancient paintings (frescoes), which are similar to those found at Ajanta Caves in India. It is generally agreed, however, that the Sigiriya Frescoes exhibit a uniquely Sri Lankan style.

Sigiriya may have been inhabited through prehistoric times. It was used as a rock-shelter mountain monastery from about the 5th century BC, with caves prepared and donated by devotees of the Buddhist Sangha.

The complex surrounding the famous rock was built by King Kasyapa (477–495 CE), who had seized power from the rightful heir, Moggallana, who fled to South India. Fearing an attack from Moggallana, Kashyapa moved the capital and his residence from the traditional capital of Anuradhapura to the more secure Sigiriya. Most of the elaborate constructions on the rock summit and around it, including defensive structures, palaces, and gardens, date back to this period. Kashyapa was defeated in 495 CE by Moggallana, who moved the capital again to Anuradhapura. Sigiriya was then turned back into a Buddhist monastery, which lasted until the 13th or 14th century.

Understand also that, even though Sigiriya is maybe the most famous tourist attraction in Sri Lanka, and must have been a truly amazing place in the past, right now the ruins are only the two-brick-tall foundations of the palace walls; absolutely nothing remains standing. You are not allowed to take pictures of the frescoes, which are the most interesting part of the visit. The "mirror wall" is barely shiny in just two small spots, and apart from the ones near the beginning, the graffiti are just modern vandalization scratches on the wall.

 

 

The unforgettable rock fortress

The towering rock outcrop of Sigiriya (Lion Rock) is one of Sri Lanka’s most spectacular natural landmarks: a majestic, sheer-sided outcrop of reddish gneiss rising 200 metres/yds above the surrounding plains and embellished with the extraordinary remains of one of medieval Sri Lanka’s most remarkable royal palaces.

 

Sigiriya's palace in the clouds

The rock has long attracted settlers. A community of reclusive monks lived in the caves around the base of the rock as far back as the 3rd century BC, though it was not until the 5th century AD that Sigiriya rose to sudden and spectacular prominence in Sri Lankan affairs. The patricidal King Kassapa chose the almost inaccessible summit as the unlikely setting for his new royal palace, a courtly paradise of elegant pavilions set amid gardens and pools. The rock was transformed into an immense recumbent lion by the addition of a brick-built head and foreparts, of which only the artfully sculpted paws remain. The impact of the Lion Rock, as it is called, must have been awesome since even its remnants beggar belief. Kassapa’s palace in the clouds lasted just 18 years, though its remains have drawn visitors ever since.

Places to visit in Sigiriya

The Water Gardens

Framing the main, western approach to the rock, the well-preserved Water Gardens are like a tiny piece of Versailles transported to ancient Sri Lanka, with carefully tended lawns dotted with symmetrically arranged ponds, water channels and diminutive fountains (although all of these tend to dry up during periods of low rainfall).

The Boulder Gardens

The Boulder Gardens present a striking contrast to the classical symmetry of the Water Gardens, comprising a small swathe of picturesque forest, with winding pathways twisting between huge boulders and through quaint rock arches. Many of the boulders are scored with long lines of notches; these would originally have held supports for miniature wooden pavilions (long since vanished) which once stood on almost every boulder. The Boulder Gardens are where the monks of Sigiriya lived, and numerous mementoes of this ancient religious community can still be seen amongst the various rocks and cave shelters. 

Sigiriya Damsels

An incongruous pair of Victorian-era spiral metal staircases lead up to a sheltered recess in the rock and the home of Sigiriya’s single most celebrated sight: the so-called Sigiriya Damsels. Commissioned by King Kassapa in the 5th century, this exquisite mural, perhaps the largest ever attempted, is painted onto the sheer rock face and features 21 beautiful, bare-chested women, swathed in a layer of fluffy cloud from the waist down, shown scattering flower petals or offering trays of fruit. The paintings are quite unlike anything else in Sri Lanka, whose artists have usually preferred to concentrate on the highly stylised depiction of Buddhist religious themes. 

The Mirror Wall        

Another of Sigiriya’s unique sights is the highly polished Mirror Wall, plastered with a mixture of burnished lime, egg white, beeswax and wild honey, and covered with a dense spider’s web of ancient graffiti left by visitors to the rock over the past 1,500 years. The graffiti – something akin to an enormous medieval visitors’ book – include numerous short poems and other literary fragments recording early visitors’ impressions of the rock, and, particularly, a great many tributes to the heavenly beauty of the nearby Damsels. The oldest graffiti date back to the 7th century.

The Summit

Heading up to the summit, the rickety-looking colonial-era metal staircase, cantilevered off the face of the rock, looks in places as if it is about to sail straight off into mid-air. And really, only those with a rock-solid head for heights will fail to feel at least a frisson of vertigo on this final section of the ascent. After the narrowness of the steps up though, the summit seems surprisingly spacious. The top of the rock shelves steeply, covered in a confusion of foundations and remains which were once part of Kassapa’s palace. At the lowest end of the summit, a series of terraces, which were once possibly gardens, offer wonderful views.