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urinal in Room 1. In the fittingly named Treas-
ure Room there are beautiful examples of jew-
ellery, necklaces, carvings and pottery. Look
for the 7th-century gold Buddhas.
Buddhist Railing HIS torIC SItE
A little south of the Jetavanarama Dagoba, on
the other side of the road, there is a stone rail-
ing built in imitation of a log wall. It encloses
a site 42m by 34m, but the building within
has long disappeared.
1 Museum Quarter
Anuradhapura has one main museum, the
Archaeological Museum, which covers most
of the local sites. Two other museums, the
Abhayagiri Museum and Jetavanarama Mu-
seum, are closely tied to their namesake sites.oArchaeological Museum MUSEUM
(entrance included with Sri Maha Bodhi ticket;
h8am-5pm wed-Mon, closed public holidays) The
old British colonial administration building
has recently been renovated and has an in-
teresting collection of artwork, carvings and
everyday items from Anuradhapura and oth-
er historic sites around Sri Lanka.
Exhibits include a restored relic chamber,
as found during the excavation of the Kan-
taka Chetiya dagoba at nearby Mihintale,
and a large-scale model of Thuparama Da-
goba’s vatadage as it might have been if a
wooden roof (for which there is no physical
or epigraphic evidence) had existed. In the
museum’s grounds are the carved squatting
plates from Anuradhapura’s western mon-
asteries, whose monks had forsaken theluxurious monasteries of their more worldly
brothers. To show their contempt for the ef-
fete, luxury-loving monks, the monks of the
western monasteries carved beautiful stone
squat-style toilets, with their brother monks’
monasteries represented on the bottom. Their
urinals illustrated the god of wealth shower-
ing handfuls of coins down the hole. Look for
other interesting and characterful sculptures
scattered about the grounds.Folk Museum MUSEUM
(admission rs 100; h8.30am-5pm Sat-wed, closed
public holidays) A short distance north of the
Archaeological Museum there’s a Folk Muse-
um with dusty exhibits of country life in Sri
Lanka’s North Central Province.1 Other Sites
South and west of the main historic and
sacred areas are several more important sites.Mirisavatiya Dagoba BUDDHISt
(rs 250) This huge dagoba was the first built
by Dutugemunu after he captured the city
in the 2nd century BC. The story goes that
Dutugemunu went to bathe in the tank,
leaving his ornate sceptre implanted in the
bank. When he emerged he found his scep-
tre, which contained a relic of the Buddha,
impossible to pull out. Taking this as an aus-
picious sign, he had the dagoba built.
Mirisavatiya Dagoba is one of three very
interesting sites that can be visited in a stroll
or ride along the banks of the Tissa Wewa.Royal Pleasure Gardens ro YAl GArDENS
Known as the Park of the Goldfish, these
extensive royal pleasure gardens cover 14
hectares and contain two ponds skilfully de-
signed to fit around the huge boulders in the
park. The ponds have fine reliefs of elephants
on their sides. It was here that Prince Saliya,
the son of Dutugemunu, was said to have met
a commoner, Asokamala, whom he married,
thereby forsaking his right to the throne.Isurumuniya Vihara MoNUMENt
(admission rs 200; h8am-6pm) The rock temple,
dating from the reign of Devanampiya Tissa
(r 247–207 BC), has some very fine carvings.
Best known of the sculptures is the ‘lovers’,
which dates from around the 5th century AD
and is built in the artistic style of the Indian
Gupta dynasty of the 4th and 5th centuries.
There is a lovely lotus pond in front. Other
images (including one of elephants playfully
splashing water) remain in situ on the rockTANKS
Anuradhapura has three great tanks.
Nuwara Wewa, on the east side of the
city, is the largest, covering about 12 sq
km. It was built around 20 BC and is
well away from most of the old city. The
160-hectare Tissa Wewa is the southern
tank in the old city.
The oldest tank, probably dating
from around the 4th century BC, is the
120-hectare Basawakkulama to the
north. Northwest of here are the ruins
of the western monasteries, where the
monks dressed in scraps of clothing
taken from corpses and, it’s claimed,
lived only on rice.
All are good for quiet bike rides and
walks.