Name: Lankatilaka Viharaya
Address: Sacred City, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, LK
Telephone: +94 272 222 222

Lankatilaka Viharaya is a point of interest, located at Sacred City, Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. They can be contacted via phone at +94 272 222 222 for more detailed information.

Location :

Sacred City, Polonnaruwa

Contacts :

Added by Jopie, at 20 November 2016

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Shanan Ilen

02 May 2018

Ancient place, currently on some re-constructions to be protected for future generations.
Anoma Jayaratne

18 April 2018

Polonnaruwa Lankathilaka Image House is a monolithic Buddha image house built by king Parakramabahu (1153-1186) lying on the South of Kiri Vehera. The building is complete made out of bricks and the outer walls are covered with elaborate designs and carvings. The Buddha statue is also completely made out of clay bricks and it has been 41 feet in height. Specially made flat bricks have been used to build this statue and today the portion above the shoulder is destroyed.
Himal Silva

01 April 2018

Very nice place and quite we can relax our mind
Yaara Guetta Weidberg

26 February 2018

Half a day is enough. We rented a bike which was a great choice. Notice you can’t go back after every checkpoint.
Pathum Nonis

21 February 2018

Polonnaruwa Lankathilaka Image House is a monolithic Buddha image house built by king Parakramabahu (1153-1186) lying on the South of Kiri Vehera. The building is complete made out of bricks and the outer walls are covered with elaborate designs and carvings. The Buddha statue is also completely made out of clay bricks and it has been 41 feet in height. Specially made flat bricks have been used to build this statue and today the portion above the shoulder is destroyed.

At the entrance to the Lankathilaka building is two massive pillars made from bricks. The tallest one is 58 feet in height. It is thought that these pillars would have been at least twice as tall this before destruction . According to chronicles this building has had five stories. This too is a part of the Ãlahana Privena.

The two stairways to the upper floors inside the Lankathilaka stupa house are a unique design. The width of a step is only about 4 inches and each is about one feet tall. The stairways start from the Buddha Statue end and goes up towards the entrance end. This unique design is used so that the user find it impossible to climb these stairs the normal may we are used to. The only practical way to climb these stairs are sideways with your back to the walls.

This stupa house is also a fine example of a Gedi-Ge style building. The unique feature of this is vault type buildings are the roofs which are made primarily out bricks in a semi-spherical fashion or as an arch. Unfortunately the roof this building has been destroyed long time ago.

The reason for designing this stairs in a way that it could be used only sideways is that the climber will never turn his back towards the Buddha when climbing to the upper floors which is considered disrespectful

The Lankathilaka Image house is unique in another aspect which is unknown to many. This image house is known as the only location in the country that a Nagini image can be found in a balustrade.

The entrance of all ancient Buddhist temples are generally adorned by a moonstone, two guard stones and a pair of balustrades on the sides of the steps. The guard-stones generally depict an image of Naga with Seven Hoods. Rarely can you see the female from of Naga, the Nagini on a guardstone or anywhere else. The nagini carving on this temple is on the inner side of the left balustrade as you enter. Her head is framed by the same number of hoods as the naga on the opposite side indicating the naga and nagini were both considered equally important functionally in their role as guardian.
Slawek Cisowski

17 January 2018

Great piece of a history in a massive complex as Polonnaruwa is. Def worth to spend some time and see all the places there.
Pedro Ruao

27 December 2017

Gorgeous complex with amazing aspect. Trees everywhere, very green and plenty of monkeys. As far as the ruins go, it's amazing: the structures are well preserved and it's a must when visiting the place.
Nuwan Gamage

06 December 2017

Make sure you visit if you are planning a trip to Polonnaruwa. It is amazing place which has majority of it's original structure yet.
Sunimal Rathnayake

16 November 2017

Destruct by Kalinga magha but still breath taking. so huge monument
Duminda Laksiri

02 November 2017

One of the greatest historical landmark
馮耀豪

18 October 2017

Extortionate entrance fee! The complex itself is nothing extraordinary if you have been to Cambodia and Myanmar before.
Tom K

06 September 2017

Giant standing Buddha without a head. The sculptures on the outside of the building are quite nice too.
Alex Wauters

06 September 2017

The most impressive building at the Pollonaruwa site in my opinion. The outer walls feature carvings of the other buildings at Pollonaruwa
Nivantha Roxi

04 September 2017

The sathmahal stupagaraya is one of the most ancient king built place
Deepal Fernando

19 June 2017

Amazing historucal place
Ayantha Randika

14 April 2017

Buddhist image house with standing up Buddah statue. The statue is almost destroyed in the invasion of Polonnaruwa by Kaling Maga. There are number of small statues in the building.
Kamal A. Perera

05 April 2017

Important temple of Polonnaruwa era
TripMalabar Travels LLP

04 April 2017

Its mind boggling to think how they might have built this all those years ago. Simply beautiful.
Dilan Shanuka Monnankulama

07 February 2017

A deviation from the traditional Buddhist Architecture
Lankatilaka Vihara is one of the most emblematic structures of the ancient kingdom of Polonnaruwa. Two great walls, each with a thickness of 4m & height of 17m form a narrow aisle leading to a very impressive, though now sadly headless Buddha statue still standing, over 14m high. Built by King Parakrabahu the great, the shrine is a definite deviation in terms of Buddhist architecture: instead of the abstract symbolism of the stupa (dagoba) the attention is focused on the giant figure of the Buddha, which fill up the entire space within the shrine.
While the interior walls are adorned with excellent murals, the outside walls are horizontally divided into five floors & adorned with reliefs of architectural subjects, which give an indication of the type of domed roof it would have had. Lankatilaka was later restored by Vijayabahu the fourth.
The entrance is guarded by statues similar to those in the vatadage & decorated with still more gurardstones & makara balustrades (dragon arches) adorned with lions & dwarfs.
The intriguing bas reliefs (low reliefs) on the exterior walls are horizontally divided into elaborate five floors most possibly representing the Vimana (adobe) of the gods.
Upul Wijesuriya

27 November 2016

This is one of the most important site we can see the ladies ( Femails ) as a Gards stone and Drafts. and its Burn Brick building too.