The Sigiriya Rock Fortress

The Sigiriya Rock Fortress of Sri Lanka is situated in Matale district near to Dambulla. It can be reached along Colombo- Habarana highway and turning towards East from Inamaluwa. Then proceeding about 10 km from Inamaluwa and passing Kimbissa township one arrives at Sigiriya.

Before Sigiriya became a Kingdom, the Sigiriya Rock base and the places such as Pidurangala which were endowed with many Caves and a temple had been dwelled by Buddhist monks from around 3rd Century BC. It is also found that these areas had been inhabitant by people prior to King Kassapa's rein. Many Caves also have Brahmi Inscriptions dating back from 3rd Century BC to 1st century AD.

The Rock itself has its unique identity on its shape not found anywhere else in the island and can be recognized miles away from the distance.

Sigiriya was rediscovered during the rule of the British, by Major H. Forbes in 1831. Climbing of the Sigiriya summit was achieved by A.H.Adams and J.Bailey in 1853.

Sigiriya being a fortress, had been well designed for its defenses by having ramparts and moats built around it. There are several approaches to the inner city and the most prominent is the Western entrance. From the summit of the rock, the land areas up to distances of tens of miles can be watched making it hard for the enemy to make a surprised attack to the kingdom.

King Kassapa had reverted his fortress to an ecological wonder by having Royal Pleasure Gardens, Water Gardens , Fountain Gardens and Boulder Gardens made inside the inner city as well as at the palace premises on the Rock summit.

The most renowned is the Sigiriya Rock Paintings or Frescoes of Sigiri Damsels locally called as 'Sigiri Apsaras' painted on a Western Rock face cavity about 100 meters high from the rock base. There now remains around 21 paintings of Sigiriya Damsels but there had been around five hundred paintings during King Kassapa's' time along several other places of the same Western Rock face.

Another interesting construction is the Mirror Wall, which is covered with graffiti from the 7th to the 10th centuries AD. These were written by the people came to see Sigiriya during those long years. Coming along the path of the mirror wall, one find the Lion Paw Terrace or Platform. Only two huge Lion's paws are remaining now but earlier there had been an enormous Lion figure or statue at the entrance. Through the Lion's paw stairway, the summit can be reached taking the iron stairway built on to the rock face. On the summit are the remains of the Palace building foundations and few ponds on a area of about 3 acres of rock summit. The largest pond was made by cutting out the rock and it is assumed that utilizing the great wind force occurring on the summit, water was brought up to fill this tank by a hydraulic system using wind power from the ground level. Some hundreds of interesting Sigiriya Fortress images are being included here.