Sri Lanka - Anuradhapura

Our second stop, still on the same day of our arrival, was an ancient kingdom capital Anuradhapura. You would need couple of days to explore the whole site, because of its size. The ruins of the ancient city are said to be of of the most beautiful sights in South Asia. And, unlike the other ancient city Polonaruwa, Anurathapura is still alive, some buddhist temples are still in service, so you do not walk around ruins, but actually among people who come to pray and meditate there.

I have to admit, it was partly because we were exhausted from the journey, and partly because we saw just a small amount what Anuradhapura has to offer, but at that time, I got most excited about the monkeys climbing the fence there :-). Looking back at the pictures now, I can see it was an interesting place.

From the whole complex, we saw just few of the basic sights:

1. Jaya Sri Maha bodhiya - a sacred fig tree, which is perhaps the oldest living tree in the world - or better to say it is  a branch of the Bodhi Tree ( under which the Buddha attained enlightment). It is guarded and taken care of for more than 2000 years now. If you don´t look carefully or do not have a guide with you, you can easily overlook the tree. It is nothing you would expect - a huge, massive tree trunk, tall majestic tree...It is just thin, fine, twisted  branch, hard to spot - I did not even picture it here, it was just not worth it. But despite this, today, the tree is one of the most sacred relics in Sri Lanka, respected by Buddhists all over the world. 

Naša druhá zastávka, stále v deň nášho príletu, bolo bývalé kráľovské  mesto Anuradhapura. Na jeho dôkladnú prehliadku by ste potrebovali niekoľko dní, pretože je veľmi rozsiahle. Ruiny mesta vraj patria k najpôsobivejším pamiatkam južnej Ázie. A na rozdiel od druhého starobylého kráľovského mesta- Polonaruwy - tu v Anuradhapure to ešte žije, niektoré chrámy stále slúžia svojmu účelu, takže sa neprechádzate len po ruinách.

Musím sa priznať, neviem či to bolo únavou z letu alebo skôr si myslím, že sme videli len malý zlomok z toho, čo Anuradhapura ponúka, ale v tej chvíli ma oveľa viac nadchli opice na plote :-). I keď na fotkách sa mi to miesto zdá opäť zaujímavé.

Z celého komplexu sme videli len pár základných pamiatok, a to:

1. Šrí mahá bódhi - posvätný fikus, ktorý je pravdepodobne najstarším stromom na zemi - teda technicky vzaté pochádza z vetvy najstaršieho stromu (pod ktorým Budha dosiahol osvietenie), a už viac ako 2000 rokov ho neustále strážia a opatrujú. Keď sa nepozeráte pozorne a nemáte so sebou sprievodcu, môžte ho aj prehliadnutť. Pretože ak čakáte nejaký veľký, mohutný kmeň, vysoký strom, niečo majestátne - tak nič také neuvidíte. Je to pokrútený tenký kmeň, nenápadný, až tak že som ho ani nezaradila do výberu fotiek :-) , lebo by ste sa čudovali čo to fotím. Ale napriek tomu je to dnes jedna z najvzácnejších a najuctievanejších budhistických relikvií, ktorú si ctia budhisti po celom svete. Strom je súčasťou  kláštora a duchovného centra Anuradhapury - Mahávihára.

2. Lovamahapaya - It was described as an edifice of nine storeys, was a building of this class. As the roof was covered with tiles made of bronze, this was known as the Brazen Palace. There are 40 rows, each row consisting of 40 stone pillars and a total of 1600 stone pillars were used for the building, which is the only thing left from the palace nowadays.

2. Mosadzný palác (Lóvámahapája) - z neho reálne uvidíte len 1600 kamenných stĺpov, ale kedysi  to bol obrovský, 9-poschodový drevený palác. Strecha bola pokrytá škridlami z bronzu, preto ten názov.

3.  Ruwanwelisaya stupa - a huge white stupa, protected and surrounded by a  wall, whichis  decorated with 1,900 figures of elephants. The stupa is one of the world's tallest monuments with its 350 feet (107 metres) in height and 300 feet (92 metres) in diameter today. It is considered a marvel for its architectural qualities and sacred to many Buddhists all over the world.

While writing this post, I actually read much more about the whole Anuradhapura area and now I am pretty sure, that we skipped some very relevant sights during our visit (oh wqell, next time! ), so I highly recommend - if you do not have enough time to visit the whole thing - to study and plan ahead which sights would you like to visit. 

3. Dagoba Ruvanveliséja (Veľká stupa) - Obrovská biela stupa, ktorú chráni múr lemovaný reliéfom 1900 slonov. Je považovaná za jednu z najvyšších svetových monumentov (výška 107 m, priemer 92 m) a uctievaná budhistami po celom svete.

Pri písaní som si prečítala viac o celom komplexe a teraz som si už istá, že sme vynechali niekoľko celkom dôležitých stavieb celého komplexu, takže odporúčam, aby ste si - pokiaľ nemáte na návštevu viac dní - naplánovali a naštudovali ktoré z pamiatok chcete vidieť.