About Sri Lanka - Pollonnaruwa

Splendid medieval capital which was established in the 11th Century AD in known as Pollonnaruwa. Three kings dominated the city and the city gives out the brief zenith in 12th Century in Sri Lanka. There are many archeological sites belongs to the 12th Century AD. Following are the evidence remains of the old glamour and glory.

Palace and Royal Pavilion

This edifice is a good example of ancient Sri Lankan architecture. It is the palace of King Parakramabahu having 1000 rooms and seven storyed high. The remaining walls of the palace was built with bricks and have extraordinary thickness. Once this was richly decorated with pearls and precious jewels.

Kumara Pokuna

Little further to the palace there is the Royal bath, built and carved with granite, gives out the skillful ability of making them. On the side this tank there is remains of the changing rooms.

Royal Audience Hall

The audience hall which was built in 12th century represented a example to the management of the Parliament embellished with magnificent pillars and decorated moon stone.

The Vatadage

The formation of Vatadage is another part of the city infrastructure done by King Parakramabahu. One remarkable feature of this structure is that there are four pillars of Guardians at its entrance, of which one pillar has been taken off by the Department of archeology for exhibition purposes at the Museum in Colombo. We find similar structures in front of massive tanks, the difference being those containing only five heads. The pillars of the Watadageya that remain today prove to us that there was a roof to protect the entire formation from natural disasters. One could say that there was a lot of activity happening at this point related to the uplifting of Buddhism, with recital of Pirith and religious talks being conducted, with the Royal intervention in a very grand scale, as the Watadageya is given a prominent central location of the city infrastructure where the crowd can gather easily for participation at any occasion. It is also suggested that there was enough space within the formation for meditating.

The Hatadage/Atadage

Two tooth relic temples in Pollonnaruwa built by two kings. It is believed that Hatadage was completed in 60 days and Atadage was completed in 8 days.

The Thuparamaya

An astonishing structure is the Thuparamaya which was built to give shelter to a number of statues of Lord Buddha. The eyes of the statues of the Lord Buddha are said to have been done with precious stones, which reflects the sunlight that comes in through one small window of one wall , These precious stones have been taken off by unauthorized treasure hunters, causing much damage to the structure of the statues. These glittering statues no doubt marvel today's traveler with the riches, tremendous knowledge and creativity possessed by the great men of that portion of history.

Gal Potha

This is the 27 feet long stone inscription with letters belong to the 12th century. Archeologists say that it is a long writing to justify the rights of the kings who came from India to rule over Sri Lanka.

Statue of King Parakramabahu

The particular figure facing its back to the Parakrama Samudraya is suspected to be the figure of King Parakramabahu the Great, holding one book of Puskola Leaf. Some argue that this figure belongs to one religious monk of Hindu Culture, taking in to judgment his attire.

Parakrama Samudraya

Enormous lake in Polonnaruwa is called by this name. It was built by King Parakramabahu is called by this name. It was built by king Parakramabahu in 12th century for the purpose of agriculture. It spread over 5,940 acres gives out the picturesque of the natural water management.

Gal Viharaya

Gal means the stone and Vihare means the image house. This image house is open to the air and three Buddha images carved on the face of a granite boulder. The recumbent Buddha statue measures 47 feet and a standing figure is 23 feet in height.

Lotus Bath

Marvelous rock cut pool giving a shape of a lotus, views the exquisite piece of final rock cutting in Sri Lanka. It is believed that buddhist monks had their bath in this pool

Lanka Thilake Image House

In 12th century this was the most splendid of buddhist shrines in Asia. One pillar is still 55 feet in height despite many hundreds of years it faced erosion. A headless Buddha statue of colossal size is found at Lanka Thilake.