Sigiriya Frescoes: The Painted Maidens and the Mirror Wall

What the paintings show

The surviving paintings depict women from the waist up. Some show a golden skin tone, others a bluish-yellow dark hue. Figures are outlined in black, with flowery hair also in black, and a red colour appears in flower petals, clothing, headdresses and jewelry.

Sri Lanka Tourism says the Sigiriya frescoes resemble those at Ajanta in India but show a uniquely Sri Lankan style. That mix of borrowed theme and local hand is part of what makes them stand out.

Why they survived

The paintings sit in a recess on the western face of the rock, about a hundred meters above ground level, protected in a shallow rock shelter. UNESCO notes they are exposed to gradual decay despite that shelter, which is why access is controlled.

The king behind the paintings

King Kashyapa built his palace on top of the rock and decorated its sides with colourful frescoes, according to the Culavamsa chronicle. UNESCO calls him the parricidal King Kassapa I, reigning 477 to 495. The CCF dates him to 477-495 CE and says he turned the rock into a royal complex in eighteen years.

After Kashyapa's defeat by Moggallana in 495 CE, Sigiriya became a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century. No individual painter is recorded, so the honest answer is painters of Kashyapa's court, unnamed.

Dating on the climb

Kashyapa ruled 477 to 495 CE, so the paintings fall in a short window of eighteen years within the 5th century. The fresco pocket and the lion gateway sit on a plateau about halfway up the 180 m rock, reached by stairways cut into the granite.

The site stayed in use long after the court left. It was a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century, and UNESCO inscribed the Ancient City of Sigiriya in 1982 under criteria (ii), (iii) and (iv).

Why so few remain

The walls along the stairway are believed to have once carried around 500 paintings. The pocket on the western face is exposed to gradual decay, and Wikipedia carries a dedicated subsection on a 1967 vandalism incident that damaged the remaining work. What you see today is a fraction of a much larger gallery.

For your visit this means the viewing window is short. You climb a spiral steel stairway into the recess, walk a narrow platform, and come back down. Allow a few minutes of queueing in busy season.

The three readings

One theory says Kashyapa's harem of over 500 concubines inspired the paintings. Other readings see apsaras or celestial nymphs protecting the fortress, a theme comparable to the Ajanta Caves in Maharashtra, India. The painting count near 500 may itself be a clue to the harem theory, though it is not proof.

For the traveller this matters only as a story to carry up the stairs. Guides on a sigiriya rock fortress tour usually give all three readings.

Colours on the wall

Some maidens show a golden skin tone, others a bluish-yellow dark hue. Figures are outlined in black with flowery hair also in black. The red colour appears in flower petals, clothing, headdresses and jewelry.

According to one account the walls were first plastered and painted white to symbolize purity, but King Kashyapa wanted a more spectacular presentation, so the gallery of women replaced the plain finish.

The ancient visitor book

The CCF says the wall was finished in polished lime plaster and carries over 1,800 documented inscriptions. Wikipedia says most verses date from the 9th and 10th centuries, and the visitors who wrote them included poets and provincial governors.

So the Mirror Wall is not a defensive wall. It is an ancient comment wall, and reading a few of the translated verses on the way up is one of the quiet pleasures of the climb.

The route to the paintings

The CCF says the full ascent takes 1.5 to 2 hours and involves approximately 1,200 steps. You cross the water gardens, pass the Mirror Wall, climb the spiral stairway into the fresco recess, then continue to the lion paws, each about 3 meters long, and the summit plateau of about 1.6 hectares.

Ticket counters are open from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm, and the site is listed as open 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Start early rather than cutting it close.

Seeing them well

Early morning gives softer light on the western face and thinner queues at the narrow stairway. Bring water for the 1,200 steps and keep your ticket handy, since the stairway attendant checks it. The CCF tells visitors to follow officers' instructions about forest animals like wasps, which sometimes gather near the path in dry season.

Tickets and hours

Per the CCF price list, the foreign adult full ticket is $35 and the half ticket is $20. The eTicket terms say the half ticket is for children aged 6 to 12, and SAARC citizens get a 50% discount on heritage site tickets. The Sigiriya Museum has its own line on the CCF price list at $6.

Tickets can be ordered online on the CCF eTicket service, the order is valid for 90 days, and you collect the physical ticket at the site counter by showing the receipt number. The ticket is valid for a single entry during the relevant day, and payments for ordered tickets are not refunded.

Rules that touch the frescoes

Photography permissions are included with CCF tickets. Professional filming and drone filming need prior written approval from the Central Cultural Fund. Visitors must follow the special rules and regulations, traditions and procedures of sacred archaeological heritage sites, and the instructions of CCF officers.

On most tours here the Sigiriya entry fee is not in the tour price and is paid on the day, so bring cash or a card for the counter alongside the tour fee. The All-Inclusive Sigiriya and Dambulla Day Tour from Colombo, the Sigiriya Lion Rock Fortress Entry eTicket with Guide and the Sigiriya Entrance Ticket with Guided Tour include the ticket, and the Sigiriya and Dambulla Day Trip from Colombo with Safari includes it only on its all-inclusive option.

What to look for

Look for the contrast between the figures with a golden skin tone and those with a bluish-yellow dark hue, and for the black outlines and flower-filled hair. The red in petals, clothing, headdresses and jewelry shows the painter's palette at its best.

If you want a second famous painting day, the Dambulla cave monastery nearby holds murals covering 2,100 m2 across five sanctuaries with 157 statues, inscribed by UNESCO in 1991.

What one ticket includes

The outer moat and ramparts enclose about 70 hectares and the summit plateau covers about 1.6 hectares. The CCF divides the western gardens into water gardens, boulder gardens and terraced gardens, and says the water garden hydraulic system is still partly functional, with fountains that run during the rainy season. UNESCO describes galleries and staircases emerging from the mouth of a gigantic lion built of bricks and plaster.

The site was used as a Buddhist monastery until the 14th century and is considered one of the best preserved examples of ancient urban planning. Sri Lanka Tourism calls the rock a lava plug left from an extinct volcano.

Planning the day

The Sigiriya Museum sits outside the main entrance and takes about 1 hour, and it is listed as open 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The CCF recommends early morning or late afternoon visits. Sri Lanka Tourism gives the Colombo to Sigiriya distance as 169 km.

If you have extra days, Minneriya National Park, designated in 1997, hosts an elephant gathering from May to October when many hundreds of elephants feed on the receding reservoir banks.