Sigiriya Frescoes
The Sigiriya Frescoes were painted 1600 years ago on the western surface of Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lanka during the reign of King Kasyapa I who ruled between 477 — 495 AD.
Only nineteen frescoes survive today, located in a small sheltered depression a hundred meters above ground. Ancient graffiti scribbled on the Mirror Wall, however, refer to the existence of as many as five hundred of these frescoes covering an area in excess of 5600 sq. meters over the entire western surface of Sigiriya Rock.
These were portraits of ladies of King Kasyapa’s harem. Dressed in their finest, they were to be admired but not touched. Depicted as supernatural they are portrayed with flowers to shower upon the humans below. They were intended to evoke a sense of wonderment and to project the opulence and grandeur of Kasyapa, the all-powerful god-king.
These spectacular paintings offer us a rare glimpse of ancient Sri Lankan art at its finest.
They are a celebration of beauty.
Read more at our Sigiriya website.
