Polonnaruwa

The travel sequence for my five-day holiday was: Sigiriya (from which a side-trip took me to Dambulla, very close by), Polonnaruwa, then Kandy at the tail end. Here we are in Polonnaruwa, looking at the Gal Vihara Buddha images, described by LP as likely the high point of Sinhalese rock carving. These are certainly among the most beautifully carved monumental images I’ve ever seen – look at the way the grain and texture of the rock is worked into the scultpure. Notice the beautiful way the pillow compresses a bit under the Buddha’s head. Notice, in the shot with people in it, the enormous scale of these sculptures! These images were all cut from one single long slab of granite, under Parakramabahu, as part of a monastery he established at the northern end of Polonnaruwa.