Anuradhapura | Historic Capital of Sri Lanka | Sri Lankan Guides
Anuradhapura used to be Sri Lanka’s first main city in the middle of the country. It’s super old and was really important for Buddhism for a long time. Because of all the old stuff left there from way back, like ancient buildings and cool things, UNESCO said it’s special and called it a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. They called it the “Sacred City of Anuradhapura.”
Anuradhapura was a huge and important city way back from the 5th century BC until the 11th century AD. It was like the main city and the royal place in Sri Lanka for around 1,400 years. Loads of kings—about 130 of them—ruled from there for a really long time, from 377 BC until 1017 AD.
Anuradhapura, which started in the 5th century BC, was the first planned city and main capital of Sri Lanka. It shows us this amazing ancient city with huge Buddhist temples, beautiful palaces, parks, big ponds, and lakes made by smart people. Lots of these places are like masterpieces of art and engineering. When you visit Anuradhapura, you’ll see so many cool things to remember. The city was mainly for the king, his helpers, and business stuff. The outside areas were for different things like where people lived or monks stayed. Today, you can still see old buildings that have been fixed up, some ruins, and places where people keep looking for old stuff underground. Anuradhapura was where the cool and important Buddhist culture in Sri Lanka began.
In Anuradhapura, the really special things are the old round buildings called stupas and the big water reservoirs. These stupas were like massive domes and were built super smartly to stay safe from lightning and other tough things. There are also amazing carvings on rocks and huge stone pillars left from old palaces, temples, and places where monks lived. Plus, there are awesome pools made from stone that were made with really clever water systems. All these things show how smart and skilled the ancient people in Sri Lanka were!
