– Sri Maha Bodhi

The oldest documented living human-planted tree on earth – a fig tree grown from a cutting of the very tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment, brought to Sri Lanka in 288 BCE and cared for continuously ever since. Standing beneath it while pilgrims in white robes offer jasmine flowers and oil lamps is a genuinely moving experience. History and living faith occupying exactly the same space.

– Ruwanwelisaya Stupa

Built in the 2nd century BCE by King Dutugemunu, the Ruwanwelisaya is one of the grandest religious monuments in Asia – a 90-metre hemispherical dome of solid brick, white-plastered, encircled by a wall of stone elephants and perpetually surrounded by pilgrims walking in reverent circumambulation. The scale of what was constructed here without mechanised tools is simply staggering.

– Abhayagiri Monastery Complex

The remains of a monastic complex that once housed over 5,000 monks and served as one of the great centres of Buddhist learning in the ancient world. The Abhayagiri Stupa rivals the Ruwanwelisaya in size, and the surrounding ruins of meditation halls, refectories, and bathing pools give a sense of the extraordinary scale of monastic life at Anuradhapura’s height.

– Isurumuniya Temple

A smaller, more intimate site tucked beside the Tissa Wewa reservoir – its most famous feature being the ‘Isurumuniya Lovers,’ a 6th-century rock carving of a royal couple rendered with a delicacy and warmth that makes it one of the finest sculptures in Sri Lanka’s entire artistic heritage. The temple’s small sacred pond filled with lotus and its rock-cut cave shrines create one of the most peaceful atmospheres in the entire ancient city.