When Anuradhapura fell to invasion in the eleventh century, the Sinhalese court moved south-east to Polonnaruwa. What followed was a brief golden age under Parakramabahu I, who built a reservoir so large it is still called the Sea of Parakrama, and left behind the most coherent set of medieval ruins in South Asia.
What not to miss
Gal Vihara. Four colossal Buddha figures cut from a single granite wall — a seated Buddha in meditation, a smaller seated figure in an artificial cavern, a standing figure seven metres high with an expression that has been argued about for eight centuries, and a 14-metre reclining Buddha entering parinirvana. It is the single finest thing in the Cultural Triangle.
The Quadrangle. A raised terrace holding a dozen structures in a small space, including the Vatadage, a circular relic house with four Buddhas facing the cardinal points and a moonstone at its entrance that is often called the best in the country.
The Royal Palace. Once seven storeys with a thousand rooms, now three storeys of brick wall three metres thick, which gives you a sense of the original.
Practical notes
- Start at the museum by the entrance — the scale models make the rest of the site legible.
- Toque macaques are everywhere; this is where Monkey Kingdom was filmed.
- Shoes off and shoulders covered at Gal Vihara and the Quadrangle.