Cave Temples of Dambulla

Sri Lanka has loads of history. Most of it is Buddhist history, which is very interesting to us. We took a trip to the ancient cave temples outside of Dambulla in Sri Lanka's "cultural triangle." The picture above is of the courtyard outside the temples. The white walls provide the "fourth wall" of the caves, where the rock provides the floor and ceiling and the other three walls.

These spectacular Buddhist temples date to the 1st century BCE when the caves were cleaned and filled with a tremendous number of Buddha statues. The cave's inside surfaces were frescoed at that time, and they were repainted some 800 years ago. Actually, one of the five temples was painted in the 1950s---but it was painted with artificial pigments. It actually looks more shabby and weathered than the 800-year-old paint jobs done with natural pigments.


These cave temples were so amazing that my heart stopped and my breath was taken from me. We tried to take some pictures inside the caves; but alas, caves are dark and the flash on our camera is nearly useless. I think you will just have to visit the caves yourself.