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Sigriya ( Its called Sinhagiri earlier ) is an ancient rock fortress  and is located in Central province . Srilanka . This fort is constructed in a massive block of rock , and its height is more than 200 meters ( but local guides telling that 260 meters)and is around 360 meters from main sea level . King kasyap was the one and only one king used this fort as capital of his  kingdom  (477 to 495 CE ). During this kings period it was capital and royal palace. After his death royal palace was abandoned and it was acting as a Budhist monastery till 14Th Century

After the half portion main entrance to the Fort starts ( after 100 meters ) there is gateway in the form lion.  The word Sinhagiri means Lion rock .

UNESCO Declared the Sigirya fort as world heritage site in the name of  “ Ancient city if Sigriya “

There are 3  types of Gardens in this fort . They are water garden ,Boulder garden and Terraced garden. Same way three types of Rocks like Lion rock ,Elephant rock and snake rock .

Kings bed room is located in the top of the fort  and a beautifull swimming for king ,water storage tanks , Dance hall etc on just  below to this level .Around 500 ladies stayed here with king other than his royal  queen  in a 3 storied room complex below to king swimming  pool level.

On the main entrance we can see 4 swimming pools used by this 500 ladies , and important thing is they were belong to different countries including china , magnolia , Europe etc.. The paintings in natural color is there in the moddle level of rock , before lion entrance , which is the major attraction now a days. From this painting  itself we can understand the nationality of those ladies .Photo graphy of these painting is not allowed and is punishable up to 250000 Lankan rupees 

From this painting area there is a spiral step way leading to Lion rock entrance . this way is protected by a wall which is called Mirror wall. This wall was highly polished like a mirror with natural materials and king used it as a mirror. There are so many comments written in this wall now by the visitors by using stone  and destroyed its mirror finish. But from that  writings experts identified around 685 different languages , and its dates  starting from 8th century. Now touching this wall is prohibited

There is a Audience hall for public hearing and kings rest place near to it with a water cooling system  and is under the protection of Snake rock .

Now The Ancient city of Sigriya or Sigriya fort is the major attraction of tourists coming to srilanka.

There is an entry ticket to This for 2250 LKR to adult or child above 6 from SAARC countries and around 4500 LKR for other foreigners .But this huge entry charge will not enable a tourist to get a help by explaining the main things. For this purpose we have to take a service from a local guide .

There is no fixed charge for guides and service is not assuring by concerned authority. Guides will ask for 3000 LKR as their fee and bargaining is possible , and deal may finalise up to 1000 LKR as per the bargaining capability of guest. But do not visit without a guide , otherwise our time and money will be  a waste.

Ticket counter is  located in the beginning and checking is around 200 meters away from here . There is a possibility of missing the ticket counter and coming back to take the ticket .