Sigiriya
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Sigiriya is a grandiose rock, the "lion mountain", rising 200 meters in the middle of endless green jungle. In the 5th century, a magnificent fortress was built here, and later - a royal palace, on the creation of which the best masters of their time worked.

Sigiriya is a rock plateau rising 370 meters above sea level and about 170 meters above the surrounding plain in the very center of the island of Sri Lanka. Since 1982, Sigiriya has been protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Sigiriya Fortress, or Lion Rock, is one of the island's most popular attractions. The ruins of the palace and fortress complex with parks, gardens, terraces, ancient pools and frescoes are scattered over a vast area and are located not only on the plain, but also on the cliff; its height is 150 meters above the jungle-covered plateau.

Sigiriya, where a Buddhist monastery had been located since the 5th century BC, was rebuilt into a fortress ten centuries later, at the end of the 5th century AD, by order of King Kashyapa. After his death, the complex was destroyed by order of the monarch’s younger brother, and the remains of the buildings were used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. In the 16th-17th centuries, Sigiriya was used as an outpost of the Kingdom of Kandy. The ruins and frescoes of the former residence of King Kashyapa, discovered in 1831, served as the beginning of research into the origin and history of the place. The complex landscapes of the palace and fortress complex impress with large-scale buildings, unusual architectural solutions and unique frescoes (only 19 of 500 unique paintings have survived to this day).

The climb to the Sigiriya rock takes about two hours; it is better to travel light.

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