Buddhist Heritage

Sandahiru Seya is the largest dagoba built in Sri Lanka after the construction of the Jethavanaramaya in Anuradhapura by King Mahasen in AD 301. The pagoda’s structural completion was carried out with the support of hundreds of Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and Civil Defence Force.
The stupa is 86.1 m (282.5 ft) high and 240 metres (800 ft) in circumference. Stupa houses the sacred relics including the Kapilavastu relics. The height of the Crest Gem placed in the dagoba is 1.1 m (3.5 ft). There are 1895 gemstones, inlaid with gold as well as pearls.

The ancient city of Anuradhapura is a UNESCO world heritage site and has several magnificent monuments which includes the tallest structures of ancient world: Jetavanaramaya Dagoba.
A Buddhist stupa is known as Dagoba in Sri Lanka and it contains the holy relics of Buddha. Jethawanaramaya has a part of belt worn by Buddha. It was built by King Mahasena (276-303 AC) as a result of the rising rivalry between the 2 prominent sects of Buddhism.

The Nagadeepa Purana Rajamaha Viharaya is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Pilgrims have been coming to the Nagadeepa since about the 1st century AC to worship at its famous Rajayathana stupa. The Rajayathana stupa was constructed by two warring Naga kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, at the site where Lord Buddha during His second visit to the country on a Bak Maha Amawaka Poya Day (550 BC), five years after attaining Enlightenment, intervened and mediated in settling a dispute over the possession of a gem-studded throne. The precious throne was offered to the lord Buddha, was returned to the Naga Kings and was later enshrined in this Rajayathana stupa.