Architecture of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, an island country located in the Indian Ocean, is noted for it unusual beauty and warm friendly people. It is known for another famous thing, tea. Sri Lankan tea has a huge fan following all over the world. When you are on your holiday to Sri Lanka, do not miss out on any of the attractions, you must visit the temples and ancient buildings that speak volumes of Sri Lanka’s glorious past. Architecture in Sri Lanka, specially the temple architecture has been heavily influenced South Indian temple building styles.
To understand the temple architecture in Sri Lanka, a little bit on the architectural styles will not come amiss. South Indian temples have a very distinctive style that had evolved over centuries. Vimana and Gopurams are the hall marks of Southern architecture as far as temples are concerned. Vimanas are tall pyramidal towers consisting of numerous progressively smaller storeys. They stand on a square base. The Gopuram differs from Vimanas. It has two storeys separated by a horizontal moulding. The whole shrine is enveloped by Prakara or an outer wall and this includes the smaller shrines as well as the temple tank. Southern architecture got a fillip during the reign of the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas, Vijaynagar rulers and the Nayaks.

Most of the temples in Sri Lanka exhibit the characteristics of Southern architecture. For example the Lankatilaka Temple in Kandy was built on a very large, uneven outcropping. It was built during the reign of King Buvanekabahu IV. Only the first floor is remaining with a tiled wooden roof. The Buddha figures are from the Pallava school of architecture. Most of the residences of the Buddhist monks were large structures with columns. These columns form an integral part any ancient architecture, most have very delicate and intricate carvings on them. You must visit Loha Prasada, it had 1600 pillars which supported the nine upper storeys that reached the bronze roof. The whole building was extremely precious, covered as it was by silver and gems. Today, however only the columns remain.