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katherine's community challenge |
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Travels Around Sri Lanka |
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Wednesday 12 April (continued) After the exciting and exhausting climb and descent of Sigiriya, we headed off to Polonnaruwa. When we arrived, it was extremely hot so we spent an hour or so looking round the museum which was quite a good idea as it put the ruins we later saw into context and we were able to choose which of the many parts of the site we wanted to visit. Ideally we should have spent a whole day at Polonnaruwa but, sadly, we had very little time there. We did see the Vatadage and Gal Vihara. The Vatadage (circular relic house) is a very beautiful building, covered in carvings of elephants, lotus flowers, lions and dwarfs. There are four entrances, each with a seated Buddha, to the central dagoba which may have housed the Tooth Relic. The Atadage is one of the oldest buildings in Polonnaruwa and was built to house the Tooth Relic. |
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 Ruins at Polonnaruwa |  Ruins at Polonnaruwa |  Ruins at Polonnaruwa |  |  Detail on building |
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 The Vatadage |  One of the four Buddhas of the Vatadage |  The Atadage |  Carved frieze |  Detail - Vatadage |
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The Gal Vihara (Stone Shrine), has four Buddha statues all carved from the same huge chunk of granite. It was originally part of a monastery - the statues are protected by a horrid metal roof but are still stunning pieces to look at. The reclining Buddha (14m long) has a lovely face and seems very serene, the standing Buddha next to it (7m high) looks quite sad. Next there is a relatively small seated Buddha in a recess and on the left a larger seated Buddha framed by an arch decorated with tiny Buddhas. After yet more bone-shaking in the bus, we got back to the hotel and grabbed a quick swim before the thunder and lightning started up again. It had been good to spend two nights in one hotel - a thorough re-packing of my suitcase had been done and it was now easy to close the lid! (Where does all the additional stuff come from? Especially if you don't buy anything and donate the spirit level, plumb line, building gloves, trowel, hard hat, steel rule, colouring books, pens and the kitchen sink you've brought out with you?) |
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 Elephant carving |  The reclining and standing Buddhas at Gal Vihara |  Gal Vihara |  The larger seated Buddha at Gal Vihara |
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The Build ::: Project Visit ::: More info ::: Links ::: |
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