Near Sigiriya in north-central Sri Lanka is the Rock Palace, the ruins of a town built by King Kasyapa in the 5th century. The slide show leads you seqentially across the moat, up the path through the gardens with its ponds and waterworks, to the old Buddhist caves at the foot of the rock that were inhabited well before the city was built, and then up the stairs to the top where the king had his palace.

Halfway up the rock in the vertical wall are the remnants of beautifully preserved frescos of beautiful women.

26 December 2015