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World Heritage Sites, Sri Lanka. |
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Royal and sacred cities, colonial strongholds, temple caves and virgin forests – with no fewer than seven World Heritage Sites declared and listed by UNESCO, Sri Lanka is one of Asia’s richest treasure troves of both natural and man-made wonders.
Six of these marvels span some 2,500 years of history – from the sacred city of Anuradhapura and the cave temples of Dambulla, to the magnificent temples and palaces of the royal city of Kandy. The Dutch fortification at Galle has the added distinction of being a living World Heritage Site.
But the seventh jewel in Sri Lanka’s heritage crown owes nothing to man and everything to nature: the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a biodiversity hotspot, with its own unique eco-system consisting of protected birds, flora and fauna. The country’s former royal capital, Kandy, the archaeological sites at Polonnaruw, Sigiriya – the palace in the sky – form Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle – a world of ancient wonders.
Spiritually inspiring, year after year, visitors from around the world make their personal pilgrimages to the seven World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka.
» THE SACRED CITY OF ANURADHAPURA - 5 BC
» THE MEDIEVAL CAPITAL OF POLONNARUWA - 10 AD
» THE CAVE TEMPLES OF DAMBULLA - 1 BC
» THE SIGIRIYA ROCK FORTRESS - 5 AD
» THE ROYAL CITY OF KANDY - 15 AD
» THE DUTCH FORTIFICATIONS AT GALLE - 17 AD
» THE SINHARAJA FOREST RESERVE - |
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Hotels related to
World Heritage Sites |
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Highlights of
Ahangama |
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» THE SACRED CITY OF ANURADHAPURA
The largest and oldest of all Sri Lanka's ancient cities, Anuradhapura is a fitting climax to any tour of the Cultural Triangle. Arguably, it takes a bit more effort to imagine it as it was more than 2000 years ago, with palaces and huge dagobas standing up to nine storeys high, a main processional avenue 24km (16 miles) long, and the richly decorated, ostentatious mansions of Sinhalese nobles and wealthy foreign merchants.
Anuradhapura was the royal seat of more than 250 Buddhist and Hindu kings recorded in the royal genealogies, and the preeminent city on the island for some 1400 years.
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» THE MEDIEVAL CAPITAL OF POLONNARUWA
Just north of present-day Polonnaruwa town, 140km (90 miles) north of Kandy, are the ruins of ancient Polonnaruwa, which date from the late 10th century, when the Chola kings of southern India invaded Sri Lanka and conquered Anuradhapura.
Recognizing, however, that Anuradhapura's location made it vulnerable to any assault from southern India, he and his successors made their capital at Polonnaruwa, adding enormous temples,palaces, parks, gardens and huge tanks. |
» THE CAVE TEMPLES OF DAMBULLA
Dambulla is sited on a gigantic rock which towers more than 160m above the surrounding land. The Rock is more the 1.5km around its base and summit is at 550km. The caves were the refuge of King Walagamba (Vattagamini Abhaya) When he was exile for 14 years. When he return to the throne at Anuradapura in the 1st century BC, he had magnificent rock temple built at Dabulla. The site has being repaired and repainted several times in the 11th, 12th and 18th centuries.
Dambulla was designated a World Heritage site in 1991. The caves has a mixture of religious and secular painting and sculpture. There are several reclining Buddha's, including the 15m long sculpture of the dying Buddha in Cave 1. |
» THE SIGIRIYA ROCK FORTRESS
Sigiriya consists of an ancient castle built by King Kasyapa during the 5th century AD. The Sigiriya site has the remains of an upper palace sited on the flat top of the rock, a mid-level terrace that includes the Lion Gate and the mirror wall with its frescoes, the lower palace that clings to the slopes below the rock, and the moats, walls and gardens that extend for some hundreds of metres out from the base of the rock.
Aerial ViewThe site is both a palace and fortress. Sufficient remains to provide the visitor with a stunning insight into the ingenuity and creativity of its builders.
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» THE ROYAL CITY OF KANDY
In 1592 Kandy became the capital city of the last remaining independent kingdom in Sri Lanka after the coastal regions had been conquered by the Portuguese. Invasions by the Portuguese and the Dutch (16th, 17th and 18th century) and also by the British (most notably in 1803) were repelled.
The last ruling dynasty of Kandy were the Nayaks of Kandy. Kandy preserved its independence until it finally fell to the British in 1815. The British deposed the king, Sri Wikrama Rajasingha, and all claimants to the throne, thus ending the last traditional monarchy of Sri Lanka, and replaced it with their monarchy.
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» THE DUTCH FORTIFICATIONS AT GALLE
Galle, the main city and port on the south coast, retains a romantic, old-world atmosphere within its Dutch fort. In fact, Galle is considered to be Sri Lanka’s most historically interesting city still functioning. It began to assume importance after a Portuguese fleet arrived accidentally in 1505. The story goes that on hearing a cock (gallus in Portuguese) crowing on their arrival, the Portuguese gave the town its name.
More likely is that Galle derives it name from the Sinhala, gala, meaning a rock. Indeed, the harbour is strewn with rocks, some above but many below the water, a factor that made it quite dangerous for shipping in earlier times. Nevertheless, until the construction of breakwaters at the Colombo port was completed in 1875, Galle remained the island’s major port.
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» THE SINHARAJA FOREST RESERVE
Sinharaja is situated close to Ratnapura and is between the villages of Rakwana, Deniyaya and Matugama.Sinharaja forest reserve is one of the least disturbed and biologically unique lowland rain forest in Sri lanka. It covers about 11,187 hectares from east to west. The length of the forest is about 21km and width from North to South is about 3.7km.
variety of indigenous plants and animals, flowing rivers and silent streamlets cover up nearly 9800 hectares. Out of a total of 830 indigenous flowering plants in the Island Sinharaja has nearly 500 plants and out of 21 native bird species in the country 17 species have made Sinharaja their home.
It was declared a Man and Biosphere Reserve (MAB) in 1978,as representative of tropical humid evergreen forest Eco system in Sri Lanka and has been recognized by UNESCO as part of it’s International Network of Biosphere reserves. |
| References |
| http://www.srilankatourism.org/lang/en/traveller/culture_heritagesites.php |
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