Sigiriya Overview

At a distance of 5 km from Sigiriya Airport, Sigiriya Rock Fortress is an ancient rock fort situated in the town of Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. It is probably the most iconic and important national monument of Sri Lanka and among the must-visit places as part of Sri Lanka Tour Packages.

Perched atop a 200m high rocky plateau, Sigiriya Rock Fortress or the Lion Rock Fortress is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The rock itself is a lava plug left over from an ancient long extinct volcano. According to history, Sigiriya was used as a monastery in the 3rd century BCE. In 477 CE, King Kashyapa of Anuradhapura moved his capital from Anuradhapura to the more secure Sigiriya, where he built a sophisticated city and fortress to protect it from intruders. After his death, the site fell into decline and was again used as a Buddhist monastery till the very end of the 14th century. After which it remained largely forgotten, except for brief periods of military use by the Kingdom of Kandy in the 17th century, until being rediscovered by the British in 1828.