Sigiriya, Lion Rock: The Mirror Wall

Originally this wall was so well polished that the king could see himself whilst he walked alongside it. Made of a kind of porcelain, the wall is now partially covered with verses scribbled by visitors to the rock. Well preserved, the mirror wall has verses dating from the 8th century. People of all types wrote on the wall, on varying subjects such as love, irony, and experiences of all sorts. Further writing on the mirror wall now has been banned for the protection of old writings of the wall.

Dr Senerat Paranavitana, an eminent Sri Lankan archaeologist, deciphered 685 verses written in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries CE on the mirror wall.

One such poem in Sinhala is:

    "බුදල්මි. සියොවැ ආමි. සිගිරි බැලිමි. බැලු බැලු බොහො දනා ගී ලීලුයෙන් නොලීමි."

The rough translation is: "I am Budal [the writer's name]. (I) Came alone to see Sigiriya. Since all the others wrote poems, I did not!" He has left an important record that Sigiriya was visited by people beginning a very long time ago.

Sigiriya Lion Rock

Sigiriya consists of an ancient castle built by King Kashyapa during the 5th century. The Sigiriya site has the remains of an upper palace sited on the flat top of the rock, a mid-level terrace that includes the Lion Gate and the mirror wall with its frescoes, the lower palace that clings to the slopes below the rock, and the moats, walls, and gardens that extend for some hundreds of metres out from the base of the rock.

The site is both a palace and a fortress. The upper palace on the top of the rock includes cisterns cut into the rock that still retain water. The moats and walls that surround the lower palace are still exquisitely beautiful.

Rock shelters at the foot of the Sigiriya rock

Sigiriya - the path climbing up the rock fortress

Sigiriya - the stone seat of King Kasyapa

Sigiriya, Lion Rock

Lion Gate

Sigiriya is located in the central Matale District of the Central Province, Sri Lanka in an area dominated by a massive column of rock nearly 200 meters high.

According to the ancient Sri Lankan chronicle the Culavamsa the site was selected by King Kasyapa (477– 495 CE) for his new capital. He built his palace on the top of this rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes. 

On a small plateau about halfway up the side of this rock he built a gateway in the form of an enormous lion. 

 
The name of this place is derived from this structure —Sīhāgiri, the Lion Rock. The capital and the royal palace were abandoned after the king's death. It was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century.

Sigiriya today is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site. It is one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning. It is the most visited historic site in Sri Lanka.