Sigiriya Lion Rock

Sigiriya Lion Rock

Lion rock is an air palace built on orange rock in Sri Lanka. It has the natural wonders of Ayers Rock in Australia, and it is also a man-made miracle that turns the impossible into the possible. It has to make every new visitor gape and marvel.

Known as the eighth wonder of the world, he is one of the pinnacles of Sri Lanka's "Golden Triangle of culture" and one of the world-class precious heritages protected by UNESCO.

brief introduction

Shiziyan, the giant rock Dynasty of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka (also known as Sigiriya Lion Rock), is an air palace built on the orange rock. With the natural wonders of Ayers Rock in Australia, and the artificial miracle of turning the impossible into the possible, every new visitor has to be stunned and marveled. Known as the eighth wonder of the world, he is one of the pinnacles of Sri Lanka's "Golden Triangle of culture" and one of the world-class precious heritages protected by UNESCO.

scale

This huge rock is 200 meters high. From a distance, shiziyan is a flat rock lying northeast of dambulla. The top of the stone is flat and looks like a lion. The lion's head is weathered and dropped, leaving only the solitary body of the lion. On its back is a garden palace built at an altitude of 200 meters. It was buried in the jungle for several centuries. It was not discovered by the British Hunter bell until the middle of the 19th century, and has been paid much attention to by the archaeologists ever since. Its scope includes a moat, a garden square, a huge rock, and a brick red castle on top of the rock.

Historical evolution

This heavenly palace was built by Kassapa (447-495 AD), king of the moriyah Dynasty. King kasiyabel killed his father and ascended the throne. In order to escape revenge from his half brother mogallana, who avenged his father, he built this fortress palace with military protection more important than ruling significance along the mountain in 18 years. Shiziyan is about 200 meters high, with smooth and square stone surface and extraordinary style. The dynasty, which lasted only seven years, was built on this huge rock, with an area of about two hectares on the top of the mountain. Even today, it is a huge project to build an air garden. There are the king's stone throne, cistern, banquet hall, Council hall, the king's bedroom and so on. The scale of the buildings at that time was incredible. The cistern is made by hand. The water stored in the cistern comes from rainwater, which can supply the whole year's needs of the palace. When the water level of the cistern is too high, the overflow water flows from the top of the mountain to the garden. At the outlet holes of different sizes, different fountains are formed, which is very beautiful.

After a long walk, you can reach lion's paws platform. Through the gate of lion's claw, you can climb up a narrow iron ladder close to the cliff. You can climb almost at right angles, and the strong wind passes you from time to time. On reaching the summit, there is a large platform of 1.6 hectares, from which the scale and layout of the lost palace can be judged. Among them, the Royal swimming pool is still well preserved, and the water is dark green. At first glance, the pool more than a thousand years ago is no different from the modern pool.

The view on the top of the rock is suddenly clear, with a panoramic view, boundless jungle, full of green, and a panoramic view of the whole capital. How did cassiabel look at the world he had won by all means 1500 years ago?

How to build this heavenly palace has always been a subject that archeologists are happy to explore. On this steep cliff, how to climb and how to transport raw materials to build a palace.

archaeological discovery

In the middle of 2004, archaeologists found several crab like figures of "artificial eight claw mechanical cart" on the outer wall of the mirror wall. They suspected that this was the equipment used to climb the rock wall and transport building materials. How to operate it was unknown. The former palace with the original palace frescoes, has now been used as a special exhibition hall of sixth century paintings, as well as exquisite landscape paintings, which is incomparable with other castles in the world today. There are more than 500 pieces of shiziyan murals, which are painted with dozens of female images, such as the concubines and heavenly daughters of gyabo I. The portraits are mainly red, yellow, green and black. They are wearing a crown, wearing tassels, their lower body is in the misty clouds, their upper body is naked, and they look like flying flowers and other dancing postures. The shape of these murals is extremely beautiful. These only remaining murals are treasures of ancient Sri Lanka art and also ancient paintings It is one of the four great art achievements in Southeast Asia.

legend

According to the great history of Sri Lanka, Prince kasiya killed his father and usurped the throne, but worried about his brother's revenge, so he built the palace on the top of this huge rock. In order to appease his father's death, he also ordered people to draw many half naked ladies who are still as beautiful as ever on the cliff with his father's beloved imperial concubine as a model. But finally, his younger brother found him and left Juyan to fight, but he was completely destroyed,

Cassiabel was chased and killed by his younger brother. If you use disgust to gain fame and gain, you can't escape evil.

The portrait of a lady

The picture of the lady of xijiliye in the cliff cave is gorgeous in color and vivid in shape, which is a must see. Entering from the west gate, we first pass through the moat. On the flat ground, there are some walls and pools. These ancient relics with a history of thousands of years are listed as human cultural heritage by the United Nations cultural and educational organization (UNESCO) for funding and protection. After the restoration, although it can not present the complete original appearance, the surrounding environment is quiet enough to make people think of the ancient.

It is said that there were more than 500 color pictures on the cliff around shiziyan, but now there are only 22. After years of erosion and man-made destruction, some of them can no longer present their original appearance. The cave is heavily guarded and no flash is allowed for taking photos.

Shiziyan, a combination of natural and human resources, is a national treasure of Sri Lanka. Step down the spiral ladder, you can see a long golden mirror wall, shining in the sun. There are many ancient inscriptions on the wall, recording the admiration of people after visiting shiziyan for thousands of years. It is a precious document in Sri Lanka.

Traffic information

There is a long-distance bus from danbule to shiziyan. It usually starts from 7:00 and runs every 30 minutes. It takes about 45 minutes. The last bus back to danbler leaves around 19:00. Please confirm in advance. You can also take tuk tuk bus from danbule to shiziyan. It takes about 30 minutes and costs about 600 rupees. Please negotiate the price in advance.

Address: Huayanxi scenic spot, Dingcheng District, Changde City, Hunan Province

Longitude: 111.44309493514

Latitude: 28.99134700368

Tour time: 1 day

Ticket information: 2875 rupees (about 138 yuan)

Opening hours: 8:00-18:00

Chinese PinYin : Shi Zi Yan