Sigiriya is a major archaeological site in North Central Sri Lanka. At Sigiriya we find the ruins of an ancient palace complex built during the reign of King Kasyapa. It has been ascribed by UNESCO as one of the seven World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. Probably the most recognizable feature in Sri Lanka is the spectacular rock fortress of Sigiriya. Originally built in 477 A.D. as an impregnable fortress and palace, Sigiriya was later used as a monastic refuge in the 16th and 17th centuries. The rock dramatically rises 200 meters above the surrounding plains and it is a wonder to imagine how they managed to carry up the materials necessary for its construction. At the base lies the remains of the royal rock and water gardens in what once was the lush pleasure gardens of the royalty. The most significant feature of the Rock would have been the Lion staircase leading to the palace garden on the summit. Lion staircase leading to the palace garden on the summit of Sigiriya Rock. Based on the ideas described in some of the graffiti, this Lion staircase could be visualised as a gigantic figure towering majestically against the granite cliff, facing north, bright coloured, and awe-inspiring. Built in the 5 century AC this magnificent complex of geometrically laid gardens, pools, fountains (still working today) as well as oldest surviving murals of maidens has been a palace of the King Kasyapa.

Sigiriya rock is the hardened Magma plug from an extinct and long-eroded volcano. It stands high above the surrounding plain, visible for miles in all directions. The rock rests on a steep mound that rises abruptly from the flat plain surrounding it. The rock itself rises 370m and is sheer on all sides, in many places overhanging the base. It is elliptical in plan and has a flat top that slopes gradually along the long axis of the ellipse.
In a sheltered pocket on the western face of the Sigiriya rock, approached by a spiral stairway, are the famous frescoes. Epigraphical evidenced refers to the existence of 500 such portraits, but only 19 remain today. Beyond the fresco gallery, the pathway circles the the sheer face of the rock, and is protected by a 3m high wall. This wall was coated with a mirror-smooth glaze, in which visitors over 1000 years ago noted their impressions of the women in the gallery above. The graffiti was mostly inscribed between the 7th and 11th Century AD. 685 of them have been deciphered and published. The graffiti are a great source for the scholars to study the development of the Sinhala language and script.
The climb to the top of the rock is made via 1200 stairs. The first 800-900 are on steep stone stairs like those in this picture. It is a very steep climb that should be taken without hurry. The stairway takes visitors past caves and hollows, places where guards watched for intruders, a number of carved symbols, and remnants of places where early Buddhist monks (coming after the reign of the King) lived and worshipped.
The pleasure garden of the western side of the rock is studded with ponds, islets, promenades and pavilions. Some underground and surface drainage systems have been discovered during excavations. The wall abutting the moat encircling the fortress is one of the most arresting features.There are also remains of paintings in some of the caves at the foot of the rock. Of special significance is the painting on the roof of the Cobra Hood Cave. The cave with its unique shape dates from the pre-christian era. The painting combines geometrical shapes and motifs with a free and complex rendering of characteristic volute or whorl motifs. It is nothing less than a masterpiece of expressionist painting. This is thus named because of its shape. Its painted ceiling is dated back to the period of King Kasyapa (5th Century AD). It is however believed, that Buddhist monks from as early as the 3rd Century BC used this cave.
Ancient Sri Lankan civilisation was however, something of a flash in the pan and within a few hundred years droughts, malaria and bloody succession battles led the cities to be abandoned. The jungle closed in and the buildings fell into ruins. For five hundred years they languished beneath the ebony trees, frequented only by elephants, leopards and the occasional traveller.