Sacred City of Anuradhapura
This sacred city was established around a cutting
from the 'tree of enlightenment', the Buddha's fig tree, brought there
in the 3rd century B.C. by Sanghamitta, the founder of an order of
Buddhist nuns. Anuradhapura, a Ceylonese political and religious capital
that flourished for 1,300 years, was abandoned after an invasion in
993. Hidden away in dense jungle for many years, the splendid site, with
its palaces, monasteries and monuments, is now accessible once again.