"The Lion Fortress." Sigiriya by euzkadi

An old rock fortress located in the central Matale district of Sri Lanka. The fortress and the Kassapa Palace were built during the reign of King Kassapa I in the 4th century Ad. It´s one of the icons of the country, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1982. The rock can be climbed through a series of galleries and staircases giving a breathtaking view of all the sourrounding plains.

The rock is a hardened magma plug from an extinct volcano, it raises 370 mts above the sea level, and has a flat top in wich the fortified palace were constructed, with several terraced gardens and cisterns. Some beautiful views of the plains can be seen from this place.

The site is specially famous for it´s frescoes classified as in the Anaradhapura period, 21 female paintings of Maidens situated in the vertical wall of the western face. It´s said that the whole face of the hill was covered by more than 500 paintings of Maidens, making it a huge painting gallery. The pictures were wiped out when the complex become a monastery, so they would not disturb meditaton.