Sigiriya Rock, Sri Lanka

If you are in Sri Lanka or plan to visit, we strongly recommend you to visit Sigiriya, which was once the capital of Northern Sri Lank. Sigiriya is located in the Matale District Sri Lanka, which is in about 25 km away from Dambulla.  Sigiriya has historic significance. There was a King named Kasyapa who decided to build a fortress on top of a huge rock – about 680 feet up to be exact. This fortress was on top of the rock but the steep sides were covered in frescoes. There are several different myths on what happened at the fortress and to the king. One story is that Kasyapa killed his father and took over the throne even if the rightful heir was his older brother. However the story went – after the king died, the fortress was taken over by monks and was used as a monastery until the 1400s. Today, Sigiriya is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site and you can still see a lot of the frescoes on the fortress. In order to visit Sigiriya, you can drive, take a bus, or Tuktuk from Dambulla.  Dambulla is pretty well connected from cities such as Kandy, Jaffna, and Trincomalee.

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