Pilimage - Image house
The Kelaniya temple, located ten kilometres outside Colombo along the Kandy Road, is a significant place of worship for Buddhists living in and around the capital. Though it has been a place of worship for over 2,000 years, the present temple buildings mostly date back to the period between 1880 and 1940. The temple is famous for its impressive Buddhist art, including murals, carvings, and the frieze of dwarves frozen in enchanting gestures. The temple, which is believed to have been visited by Buddha himself, reflects the fortunes of Sri Lanka over the centuries, with high points marked by artistic excellence and low points in times of colonial domination. A small village of simple houses surrounds the temple, and it sits on a manmade hillock on a plain by the banks of the Kelani Ganga. The temple features three great symbols of the "triple gem": the dagoba, the main temple building, and the bo tree. The dagoba contains a gem-studded throne on which the Buddha sat on his second visit....
