Lankathilaka Image House
North Central Province
About Lankathilaka Image House
The Lankathilaka of Polonnaruwa is the most architecturally thrilling ruin in the ancient city: a gedige image house raised by Parakramabahu the Great as a man-made cave of brick, whose surviving walls - seventeen metres of them, and originally higher - form a long, high nave that channels every visitor's eye and footstep toward the colossal standing Buddha at its end. The image, brick-built and stucco-finished like the building, has lost its head to the centuries; somehow the loss amplifies the awe, the vast headless figure dissolving upward into open sky where the vaulted roof once closed. The exterior walls carry some of Polonnaruwa's richest surviving stucco - miniature shrines, deities, and architectural fantasies stacked storey on storey. Sitting in the Alahana Pirivena monastic quarter below Rankoth Vehera, it is the emotional crescendo of the northern cycling loop - cathedral-nave photographs guaranteed.
Top Activities
- ✓The nave and colossal headless Buddha
- ✓Exterior stucco reliefs
- ✓Alahana Pirivena quarter walk
- ✓Architectural photography
- ✓Combine with Rankoth Vehera and Kiri Vehera
Nearby Attractions
Travel Tips
Morning sun enters the nave axis - the best hour for photographs.
Walk the exterior too; the stucco miniatures repay slow looking.
Shoes off inside the image house; the brick floor stays cool.
Quick Info
Best Time
May to September; morning light
Weather
Hot; the high walls cast merciful shade into the nave.
Estimated Daily Budget
7.9506°N, 80.9989°E
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