Overview
Founded more than two thousand years ago, Anuradhapura was the heart of Sri Lankan civilisation for over a millennium. Today its sacred city is still a place of living pilgrimage. Worshippers in white bring lotus flowers to the Sri Maha Bodhi, said to have grown from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha found enlightenment.
Around it rise immense brick and white-washed stupas, including Ruwanwelisaya and Jetavanaramaya, once among the tallest structures in the ancient world. We visit with a guide who brings the stories to life, and add Mihintale, where Buddhism first arrived on the island.
