Ancient City of Sigiriya

King Kassapa I, who seized the throne by killing his father, built his capital where no army could follow: atop a granite monolith rising some 180 metres from the jungle. Between 477 and 495 CE the Lion's Rock gained water gardens, mirror-polished walls, celebrated frescoes of celestial maidens and a stairway that once passed through the jaws of a colossal brick lion — its paws still flank the way up. UNESCO inscribed Sigiriya in 1982.