Sigiriya Making the most of Sigiriya requires a good head for heights, as the last part of the way to the top of this 200m (656ft) plug of rock, fortified in the late 5th century AD, is a scramble over a series of shallow steps with a sheer drop on one side. Around the monolithic crag are the ramparts of the lower citadel, enclosing a complex of ruined miniature summer palaces and royal swimming pools.

  The palace complex and clifftop citadel were built in around AD473-480 by Kasyapa, a patricidal usurper of the throne of Anuradhapura, as a bulwark against attack by his half-brother Mogallana, the rightful heir to the throne. Instead of staying behind his walls when Mogallana finally launched his bid for the throne in AD491, however, Kasyapa went out to fight, was defeated and committed suicide. Mogallana was crowned  king in AD495 and returned the throne to Anuradhapura, where he reigned for the next 18 years. Sigiriya wasgradually abandoned and fell into disuse, and its treasures were not rediscovered until the 19th century.Midway up the stairway are the Sigiriya Damsels, the only secular art to have survived from the early Sinhalese kingdoms. In Kasyapa's time, the rock wall was graced by hundreds of sensuous paintings of skimpily clad court beauties, but only 22 have survived the ravages of time, weather and vandalism. A little further along, the Mirror Wall preserves hundreds of graffiti dating from as early as the 8th century and providing linguists with vital insight into the evolution of the written and oral Sinhalese language. The final section of the stair originally passed between the paws of a colossal brickwork lion which formed a gateway into the upper citadel and gave the rock its name, which in Sinhala means lion rock'. There is little left of the palace of Kasyapa except for his rock-cut throne and a large stone pool, probably a reservoir, cut out of the rock. The view, however, is absolutely breathtaking.