Top Must-Sees in the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa

Womenscorner Desk
September 7, 2020

Before we went into the ruins of the Ancient City, we visited the Archaeological Museum (next to the ticket office). The museum served as a nice introduction to what
we had in front of us, but being anxious to see the real thing, we didn’t spend very much time there. The museum is designed for walking through, with a series of interconnected rooms each dedicated to a particular theme.

They also had scale models of the buildings and temples of the city, showing how they might have looked like in their glory days with the wooden roofs still intact. But if you are in a hurry, and don`t have that much time in Polonnaruwa, then I would recommend skipping the museum. It is much better to see the ruins and temples in real life than on pictures and models at the museum! Here are our top sights of the Ancient City Polonnaruwa:

Royal Palace : The first group of ruins you meet after entering the ground of the Ancient City is the Royal Palace Group. This group of buildings dates from the period of King Parakramabahu I (1153 – 1186). The King`s Royal Palace is a massive structure, measuring 31 m by 13 m, once including 50 rooms supported by 30 columns. Even today it is quite an impressive building, but picture it being seven floors tall with 3 m thick walls, as the archaeologists claim it once was!

Today only some of the walls are left, with holes to hold floor beams for two higher levels. If the building had four more levels above these stone walls, the archaeologists speculate that they must have been made of wood. Impressive building such a big palace in those days without machines!

The ruins of the Royal Palace : The king`s Audience Hall is one of the best-preserved structures in the Royal Palace Group, with beautiful stone carved elephants on the walls. Each elephant is in a different position and looks different from the other. Beautiful stone carved elephants on the walls of the Audience Hall.

Swimming Pool : In one corner of the palace grounds is the king´s swimming pool, with crocodile-mouth spouts used to lead fresh water into the pool. Today the water is not very tempting to go swimming in, alien-green as it is!

Sacred Quadrangle : The Sacred Quadrangle is a compact group of beautiful and impressive ruins within a raised up platform bounded by a wall. This is the most concentrated collection of buildings in the whole Ancient City, and a must-see for any visitor!In the middle of the Quadrangle is The Vatadage, a circular relic house typical of its kind. The outermost terrace is an impressive 18m in diameter and has four entrances all flanked by large guard stones in beautiful condition.

Shiva Devale No. 2 : This is the oldest building in Polonnaruwa as it dates back to the brief South Indian Chola dynasty period (around 1070) when the Indian invaders established the city. This is one of the few Hindu temples on the grounds. Because it is among the few buildings built entirely of stone, it is basically in the same condition as
when it was built.

Pabalu Vehera : Pabalu Vehera, is another typical dagaba, dating back to King Parakramabahu I (1153-1186). This is the third largest dagaba in Polonnaruwa, and in excellent condition.

Rankot Vihara : Rankot Vihara is a huge dagaba in excellent condition, of impressive 54 meters tall! It is the largest dagaba in Polonnaruwa, the fourth largest in Sri Lanka, and dates back to King Nissanka Malla (1187 – 1196). In between the ruins and temples, we also found traces of the jungle trying to take over the ancient city. Wandering around these impressive structures that are still in such good condition, it ‘s incredible to think about all the hard work done to restore them since the archaeologists first discovered the Ancient City all covered with trees.

Dagaba Kiri Vihara : The beautiful dagaba Kiri Vihara (meaning “milk-white”) was built in honor of the King`s Queen. When the archaeologists came to the area and cleared it from the overgrown jungle, they found the original lime plaster still in white perfect condition after 700 years! This is the best-preserved unrestored dagaba in Polonnaruwa.

Buddha statue at Lankatilaka : The huge Lankatilaka is impressive with its 17 m high walls! Although the roof is gone, it still has a cathedral-like feeling about it, and the aisle leads to a huge standing headless Buddha.

Buddha figures at Gal Vihara : Gal Vihara is a group of four beautiful Buddhas in perfect condition, cut from one long slab of granite. The standing Buddha is 7 m tall and is said to be the finest of the series, with its unusual position of the arms and sad facial expression.

Source : Google