The hydraulic water gardens at the base are engineering from the 5th century AD. The frescoes painted onto the sheer rock face have survived 1,500 years. The Mirror Wall is inscribed with devotional poetry spanning a thousand years of visitors. The summit view at first light, across the Cultural Triangle, is everything the photographs suggest and something they cannot capture.
Dambulla
Five rock-hewn cave shrines, 150 gilded Buddhas and two thousand years of continuous devotion
Dambulla’s five cave shrines were first used in the 1st century BC and have been in continuous use and renovation ever since. The ceiling murals cover every surface in imagery spanning two thousand years of Buddhist devotion. Cave 2 has the finest paintings, and the light inside is diffused and gentle in the afternoon.
