Anuradhapura Sacred City

The Sacred City of Anuradhapura, in Sri Lanka's North Central Province about 205 km north of Colombo, was the capital of Sri Lanka for over a thousand years and is the oldest of the ancient capitals. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1982. It suits pilgrims and history-minded travellers with a full day to spare.

Capital from 377 BCE to the 11th century

The Mahavamsa chronicle dates the city's founding to 437 BCE and says King Pandukabhaya made it the capital in 377 BCE, while archaeology points to settlement much earlier. It remained the capital until the early 11th century. The Chola invasions of 993 and 1014 left it largely deserted, and the kings moved to Polonnaruwa.

The fig tree grown from the Buddha's Bodhi

Its heart is the Sri Maha Bodhi, a sacred fig tree grown from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, brought to the island by Sanghamitta and planted by King Devanampiya Tissa. It is described as the oldest living human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date, more than 2,300 years old. The tree stands on a terrace about 6.5 m above the ground, ringed by lower terraces with younger bodhi trees and a golden fence first raised in 1969. Access to the top terrace is restricted. Farmers still bring rice from their first harvest as an offering.

Atamasthana pilgrimage and Jetavanarama

Pilgrims follow the Atamasthana, eight places of veneration: the Sri Maha Bodhi, Ruwanwelisaya, Thuparamaya, Lovamahapaya, Abhayagiri Dagaba, Jetavanarama, Mirisaveti Stupa and Lankarama. Jetavanarama shows the scale of the old city. King Mahasena began it in the late 3rd century CE with about 93.3 million baked bricks, and at 122 m it was the tallest stupa in the world. Today it stands about 71 m. Huge brick stupas, monastery ruins and ancient reservoirs such as Tissa Wewa and Basawakkulama surround the shrines.